


Unexpected Outcome

by PassionWriter



Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:34:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 47,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25845889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PassionWriter/pseuds/PassionWriter
Summary: Claire prepares to travel back to find Jamie at the Print shop in 1766, but the unexpected has happened and she suddenly finds herself in 1743 again.  What changes will be in store for our couple.  This is a journey with unexpected twists and turns and I hope you enjoy my vision for their redo.
Relationships: Claire Beauchamp/Jamie Fraser
Comments: 245
Kudos: 357





	1. Chapter 1

Claire had spent months preparing for her reunion with Jamie since Roger and Brianna had helped her to uncover the truth of his life. He had not died at the Battle of Culloden but had survived in a cave, living as an animal for 7 long years. Then after all of that time of simply surviving he was turned in by one of his tenants to the English. Claire hated to think of all that he had gone through while she and Brianna had lived a comfortable life in the 20th century, but she was proud of the man that he was. He had sacrificed his own freedom to see his family and people under his care taken care of. She had nearly lost hope when they lost his trail after finding him in Ardsmuir Prison, but when Roger had found the old newspaper with two of Jamie's names and the quote which had not been written yet, Claire's heart began to flutter. She truly could go back and Brianna had assured her that it was alright, that Claire and Jamie had missed out on enough time together.

So Claire began to prepare by making an 18th century styled dress while taking into account the ease of a zipper on her corset instead of laces. She knew or hoped at least that when Jamie finally set eyes on her that he would want to ravage her as soon as possible and a zipper cut valuable time off of her undressing. She gathered jewelry that she could sell or perhaps trade for a horse or carriage ride. Gathered all the medical supplies she could carry, that wouldn't be too out of place in the 18th century and packed everything in a leather satchel that she made herself.

When she was finally prepared to leave, Roger and Brianna met her in their living room to see her off. She took a good long look at Brianna, then noticed Roger's arm securely around her daughter's shoulder and knew in her heart that Brianna had someone to keep her safe and loved. It made the burden of leaving her behind a bit lighter. Besides, Brianna had said she could hear the buzzing when they were atop the hill at Craigh Na Dun and although she had dropped out of school, she had all of the skills required to find her parents in history if she decided to travel back to the past as well. Claire smiled to herself, her daughter would be fine and she was making the right choice by returning to Jamie. If she got nothing else out of her journey, she would at least get to tell him about their daughter and let him know that his sacrifice had not been for nothing. 

She walked out of the house and climbed into the taxi. The ride to the airport was bittersweet as she looked around at the city where she had lived for the past 20 years. There were so many memories in this city, memories of her beautiful daughter growing up, but also memories of pain, fighting, betrayal, and longing for another life, for another man. And now she had been given another chance to be with the man that she had longed for and dreamed of for so long. She hoped that reality would live up to the fantasy she had built up in her head since finding out he had survived, but she mentally prepared herself for less. People change, after all, she had changed and Jamie had certainly changed after all he had been through since her departure. They might not be the same people they once were together, they may no longer fit together. 

Claire decided that if she prepared for the worst outcome possible, she would not be let down. But she couldn't help but hope for the best, after all, she and Jamie had felt a deep connection, one like she had never felt before meeting him or since leaving him behind in the past. She hoped that the connection still existed and would only become stronger upon her return.

The taxi pulled up to the airport and the driver helped her out. She looked up at the airport for a moment, then gathered her courage and stepped inside. She walked to the ticket booth, purchased a one way ticket to Inverness, and boarded the plane to her future, or was it her past. Whatever you wanted to define it as, it no longer mattered, she never intended to return to the century she had been born to. She decided to sleep on the flight across the ocean because she knew once she passed through the stones she would be walking for at least a few days before she could procure a horse or ride in a carriage. She would need her body to be well rested for the adventure that lay ahead of her.

It seemed like she had only just laid her head against the window when the stewardess was shaking her by the shoulder, "Mrs. Randall, please fasten your seatbelt, we are preparing to land in Inverness, Scotland."

Claire sat up and rubbed her eyes to peer out the window. The light of day streamed brightly in through the small oval window and illuminated the emerald fields of Scotland below. Claire smiled, she was finally coming home.

As the plane came to a stop on the runway, the captain welcomed everyone to Scotland over the intercom and there was a universal sigh among the passengers aboard. Claire stood, grabbed her small suitcase, and followed the other passengers out of the plane. When she entered the airport she looked around for the nearest bathroom so that she could change into the appropriate attire for her journey. She left her modern clothing folded neatly on the bathroom counter, hoping that someone else would get some use out of them.

When she hailed a taxi, the driver gave her a strange look but said nothing about her clothing. However after she requested that he take her straight to Craigh Na Dun, the driver turned in his seat to look at her, "Miss, are ye alright?"

Claire frowned, "Whatever do you mean, I am feeling perfectly well thank you."

The driver shook his head, "Tis only that ye are dressed as if ye are heading to a renaissance fair and ye wish me to take ye to Craigh Na Dun, the fairy hill."

Claire smirked, "Awe, yes. I am actually headed to a meeting with other women to celebrate the past. There will be a secret gathering at the hill, but we don't like for outsiders to know about it. I am quite fine and I'll thank you to simply take me to my destination and not breathe a word of my intentions to anyone."

The driver looked at her skeptically but turned around to take her to her requested destination, "As ye say, lass, I'll no' be tellin' anyone about our encounter if it's all the same to ye."

Claire laughed to herself, luckily the driver she had chosen had thought her mad and wanted no association with the crazy sassenach beyond earning his fare. They arrived at the fairy hill 20 minutes later, Claire paid the driver and sent him on his way. She trudged up the hill, listened for the telltale buzzing, and was rewarded instantly with the sound emitting from the stones. She secured her bag on her arm, strode toward the traveling monolith, and placed both palms firmly against the granite giant. 

She welcomed the dreadful sensations throughout her body and mind and simply waited for it to be over so she could begin her trek toward Inverness and then on toward Edinburgh where her husband unknowingly awaited her. The buzzing, pulling, and ripping seemed to be lasting longer this time and Claire briefly wondered why, before everything began to fade. She relaxed into the sensation of her body coming back together and kept her eyes firmly closed until she could no longer feel the churning in her stomach. 

When the urge to vomit finally passed, Claire opened her eyes, sat up, and looked around. She knew immediately that her trip had been successful, the Scotland she now found herself in had a fresh untouched feel about it which she had missed dearly over the past 20 years. She got to her feet and looked down at herself to take stock and make sure nothing had been broken during her crossing. She gasped when she took note of her clothing, she was no longer wearing the dress she had made for this trip. Instead, she was wearing the white frock she had been wearing on the day of her first crossing.

She thought that perhaps she was still crossing through or had perhaps fallen asleep, the only way to be sure that this was not a dream but a rehashing of her first trip through the stones, was to look at her reflection. Since she had no mirror with her and apparently her bag had not made it through the stones, she held out her hands in front of her. Sure enough right there on her wrist was the old silver watch she used to wear, a watch that had been lost during her first escapade into the past. Her hands also appeared to be the hands of a young woman and not the 50 years old she had been only moments before.

Claire knew in her heart that she had somehow traveled back to that first day in 1743, but her mind was having trouble reconciling it all. If she had indeed traveled back into the body of her younger self, how in the world did she have all of the memories of her life since then? There was only one way to find out if all of this was real, she needed to follow her same path and hope that Murtagh would find her again. This time however she would try to avoid Captain Randall.

Unfortunately, her feet took her on the exact path that she had traveled on her first trip through the stones and when the gunshots sounded around her she momentarily thought she was on the set of a cinema production. She quickly chastised herself for thinking that, again. This was absurd, she knew in her heart this was real and if her feet kept carrying her along this path she would come face to face with, "Oh bloody hell, not you again."

The redcoat rose from his position next to the stream at Claire's sudden outburst, "Who might you be madam?"

Claire turned to run, but Randall was too fast for her and caught her by the nape of the neck. He slammed her into the side of a rocky outcropping, and pressed his sword to her throat, "I am Captain Johnathan Wolverton Randall of his majesties 8th Dragoons, now I will ask you again, who are you?"

Claire sighed, "My name is Claire Beauchamp and I'm not a whore."

To her utter disgust, Randall laughed in her face, so close that she could smell his rotten breath on her face. She gagged at the odor and the captain pressed his sword harder against her throat. Claire could feel the wet warmth of the blood on her throat and feared she was about to die at the hands of this madman. Suddenly without warning, there was a crash behind Randall and he released his hold on her long enough for Claire to see what had made the sound. Claire smiled at the sight of her old friend Murtagh, then jumped in shock as he hit Randall on the back of the head with the hilt of his dirk. 

Murtagh extended his hand to her, "Trobhad!"

Claire stood, still in shock until he grasped her hand and pulled her along. She knew what was happening but was unable to contribute any energy or thought to the events before her. However this time she didn't fight back or scream and was rewarded by Murtagh not knocking her unconscious. He boosted her onto the horse and mounted behind her. He still smelled just as foul as he had in her memory from the first time this had happened. She sat stiffly in the saddle, awaiting the moment they would arrive at the cottage and she would get to see Jamie again. She smiled to herself at the thought, she had not intended for all of this to happen again, but it seemed it was a blessing that it had. She now knew exactly what was in their future and how to avoid past mistakes. She and Jamie would get the chance that had been stolen from them and she would make sure that Jamie would not be forced to endure any more torture at the hands of Black Jack Randall.

They arrived at the cottage and Murtagh dismounted before reaching up and helping her down. He pulled her into the cottage just like he had done the first time. But as soon as they stepped in, she knew something was different. Her eyes immediately went to the man sitting next to the hearth who was being held in place by a large hand on his shoulder. Jamie's eyes were huge as he stared at her, was that recognition that she saw there? She was torn from her thoughts by Dougal asking her name, but before she could answer herself, the question was answered for her.

Jamie had watched as Murtagh drug her in and he knew at that moment that this was not a dream. He wanted to go to her as soon as she walked in but he was being held in place. He couldn't make his mouth form any words to call out to her until Dougal had asked her name, "Her name is Claire, Claire Beauchamp."

All eyes swung toward Jamie as Dougal took a step closer to him, dragging Claire along with him, "Ye ken the lass then Jamie?"

Jamie smiled as her eyes landed on him, reflecting love. "Aye, I do. We met in Paris, Claire is verra important to me, let her go Dougal."

Claire smiled at him. Dougal released his grasp on her arm and gaped back and forth between the two of them as Jamie extended his good hand toward her. Claire walked straight to him, knelt in front of him, and cradled his face in both of her hands as they pressed their foreheads together. Everyone else in the room seemed to disappear as they took each other in. Jamie tangled his fingers in her curls and brought her lips to his in a chaste kiss. He pulled back and looked into her eyes, murmuring soft enough that only she could hear his words against her lips, "I dinna ken what happened. One moment I was visiting the stones atop Craigh Na Dun, after feelin' so heartbroken of late, I felt the need to visit the last place I had seen ye. I leaned against the stones as I have done when I have visited them before, and the next I find myself flat on my back wi' a familiar pain in my shoulder. I thought it was a dream again, I have them often, but then when ye came in wi' Murtagh, I knew it was real. Ye are really here."

Claire smiled against his lips, "Yes, Jamie I am really here. I will tell you everything but not here with the men around, let's wait until we are on your horse and headed back to Leoch."

Jamie nodded as he pulled his head away from hers. "Aye, will ye fix my shoulder for me then, lass?"

Claire smiled up at him, "With pleasure my love."

Dougal had overheard her last remark and gasped, "It would seem that the two of ye are closer than ye let on Jamie."

Jamie looked up and scowled at Dougal, "Aye, we are, Claire is my wife."

Dougal took a step back as if he had been punched in the gut, "But ye said her name was Beauchamp."

Jamie smoothed her curls as she prepared to realign his shoulder, "Tis her maiden name. When she wed me, she became Claire Fraser."

Claire interrupted the men, "Jamie, I need you to hold still, this is the worst part."

He smiled softly down at her, "Aye, I remember Sassenach, get on wi' it so we can be on our way."

Claire looked toward Murtagh, "Please hold him steady."

Murtagh stood gaping at the two of them, in as much shock as the rest of the men at Jamie's revelation but did as she asked. Once his arm was back in, Jamie turned toward Angus, "Angus, give my wife yer belt, she needs to bind my arm."

Angus did as ordered without argument, his mouth agape, matching all of the other men standing in the cottage. After Jamie's arm was bound he stood and took Claire into his one armed embrace and buried his nose in her hair for a moment. Then lifted his head to see all of the men staring at them, "Dougal, we canna tarry about wi' the redcoats on our trail, we must make haste and get on the road. Where is my coat?"

Dougal shook his head then turned and picked up Jamie's coat, handing it to him instead of tossing it at him. He seemed to come back to himself after that and ordered the men outside to ready the horses. 

Jamie and Claire took the bit of privacy to talk for a moment. Claire laced her fingers around Jamie's neck and looked deep into his eyes. "I thought you had died, I am so sorry it took me so long to come back to you."

Jamie shook his head, "Nah, ye did as I asked, but what I dinna ken is how we ended up back here wi' our future still ahead of us. I have lived 20 years wi' out a heart but now ye have come back to me and it seems as if God had other plans for us."

Claire nodded, "That is exactly what I was thinking as well. When I realized that I had come back to 1743 and that I was in my younger body, I hoped that you would remember me so I wasn't trying to do this all on my own again."

Jamie pressed his forehead to hers, "Not alone, never again. But we have different choices to make this time. I willna ever send ye through those stones again."

Claire sighed in relief, "Thank God, I couldn't live through that again."


	2. Chapter 2

Jamie led Claire out to his horse, never letting go of her hand as she practically wrapped herself around his arm. "Murtagh, would ye help me to mount my horse, then give Claire a boost up in front of me?"

Murtagh was already walking toward Jamie to help him, and as he got close enough to the couple he lowered his voice so only Jamie and Claire could hear him. "Ye will be tellin' me about all this. As far as I kent, ye didna have a wife, when did ye even have time to get wed. I've been by yer side since ye returned from France."

Jamie released Claire's hand and placed his hand on Murtagh's shoulder, "We shall tell ye all a goistidh, but for now, just trust that what I have said is the truth."

Murtagh grumbled and clasped his hands together so that Jamie could place a foot in the cradle they made and pull himself up onto his horse. Once he was settled, he reached his free arm down to Claire as Murtagh boosted her up as well. Murtagh looked at the two of them, shook his head then walked over to mount his own horse. 

Claire helped Jamie to loosen his plaid and together they wrapped it securely around both of them. Claire snuggled against Jamie's warm chest and hummed in appreciation of her current situation. Jamie held his horse back so that he and Claire could be at the back of the group and have some privacy to discuss what had brought them to this point in time again. 

When the men had moved far enough away from them, Jamie kicked his horse to get him moving. He buried his nose in Claire's hair again and kissed the top of her shoulder, "I'm no' complainin' about havin' ye back in my arms again mo ghráidh, but I dinna ken how this is possible. As I said I had been feelin' sad wi' missin' ye and decided to visit the stones. I leaned against them, then a moment later I was layin' on my back below my horse."

Claire placed a hand on Jamie's strong thigh and stroked his leg back and forth, "Yes, you said that and to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what exactly happened. But it seems that when we touched the stones, we must have touched them at the same time. That must be why we were both brought back to the moment that I touched the stones the first time I fell through."

Jamie looked down at her, placing a finger under her chin so he could bring her face around to look at him. "Why were ye touchin' the stones again, did ye no' tell me it was the most dreadful thing ye had ever experienced?"

Claire leaned up to kiss the underside of his chin, "I did say that, but some things are worth the sacrifice."

Jamie furrowed his brow, "Did somethin' happen to ye Claire, is that why ye returned to me?"

She smiled and leaned the side of her head against his chest, "Yes something did happen, I found out that you were alive and I knew that I had to return to you. I would have come sooner, but I thought you had died."

Jamie leaned his chin on the top of her head, "How did ye find out that I had no' died?"

She pulled away from his chest and looked up at him, "Your daughter and her friend helped me. Brianna and Roger were actually the one's that found the proof that you had survived. We spend months trying to track you down. I heard a story about a dun bonnet that hid on his estate in a cave for seven years. Then he asked one of his tenants to turn him into the English so the tenants and his family would reap the reward. I thought that the story might be about you and then I was certain it was you when I found you on the prison list of Ardsmuire Prison. But then we lost your trail when the prison closed and I thought perhaps you were one of the men that died."

Jamie squeezed her tighter, "Aye, I didna ken that a story about me would become part of history, but that was me. As ye ken from yer research, I spent three years in Ardsmuir, while I was there I met a soldier that ye and I had encountered before. Do ye remember the lad just before Prestonpans?"

Claire furrowed her brow in thought, "The one whose arm you broke?"

Jamie smirked, "The lad broke his own arm, Sassenach, but aye, that is the one. Well, he became Governor of the prison and he remembered his debt to me. The debt is the reason I was even able to make it home to Lallybroch. There were a bunch of us men hold up in a cottage near Culloden and I lay there with a slash down my leg, dyin' wi' fever. I laid there and listened as the other men were taken out and shot and when it came to my turn, I gave my name and the Colonel in charge turned out to be Lord Melton, the lad, Lord John Grey's older brother. He kent about the life debt and ordered one of the nearby farmers to take me back to Lallybroch, he expected that I wouldna survive the journey. If it were no' for Jenny, I would have died, I wanted to die. After sendin' ye through the stones, I had nothin' left to live for and I was angry at that Colonel for so long for no' takin' my life. Anyway, I became friends with Lord John Grey and he used his contacts and favors to get me transferred and paroled to an English estate where I became their groom. The rest of the men were no' as lucky and were transported to the colonies to serve out the rest of their sentences as indentured servants."

Claire placed her hand over Jamie's hand which was on her hip, holding her against him, "I'm glad you didn't die and I should have been there for you. I should never have gone back."

Jamie shook his head, "Nah, ye did it for Brianna. I wanted to ask ye, where did ye come up wi' that name, tis an awful name for a lass."

Claire frowned, "It's not an awful name, it's beautiful and I promised to name our child after your father."

Jamie snorted, "Aye, if she had been a lad. I never expected ye to keep that promise if the bairn was a wee lass."

Claire shook her head, "I promised you and I wasn't going to do any different. Frank questioned me about her name and I wouldn't budge, it was my last promise to you."

Jamie stiffened at the mention of Frank, "Did ye leave Franke to come back to me?"

Claire shook her head, "No, Frank died two years before I came back. I did as you asked me to."

He lifted her face to look at him again, "Claire, why have ye come back. Did ye come back just to bring me news of my daughter or did ye come back to be wi' me?"

Claire smiled at him, "Why do you think I have come back?"

Jamie shook his head, "Aye dinna ken, but ye are the mother of my children and for that alone, I owe ye, my soul."

Claire turned in the saddle so she could see him more clearly, "Jamie, that may have been the case if the stones would have worked like we expected them to, but I am the mother of nobody now. That world that I left is gone, the three years we were married are gone. We have been given another chance, we can change things."

Jamie furrowed his brow, "The last time we tried to change things, we ended up as part of a doomed battle. I dinna think changing things is our best option."

Claire placed a hand on his cheek, "I don't mean to change things like the rising, clearly that was too large of an event to change. I'm talking about little things, like all of the things to happened to us. Like losing Faith and what happened to you at Wentworth, or what happened to Fergus at the brothel. You and I need to make different choices for us, for our family."

Jamie looked down at her thoughtfully, "Aye, perhaps ye are right. I suppose we have already changed things, have we no'?"

Claire kissed him on the corner of his mouth, "Yes, I suppose we have. As long as Colum accepts your word that we truly are married, things will be different from the start."

Jamie kissed her back, "Tell me what happened after ye went back to yer time."

Claire shook her head, "Not yet, you finish telling me what happened in the 20 years we were apart. How long were you at Hellwater, how did you become free again and how did you become a printer?"

Jamie chuckled, "Aye, I'll tell ye. But there are some things that I would like to keep to myself, there are things that pain me to think about and now that they are only part of my memory instead of a scar on my past, I wish to leave them there. Do ye agree?"

Claire nodded, "Yes, I think that is reasonable, after all, as of the moment I touched the stones again, we still have all that time to live through. I don't see any point in talking about the pain inflicted on either of us."

Jamie furrowed his brow at what Claire had inadvertently revealed, but he didn't push, if there was something she wished to tell him, she would. 

Jamie kissed her on the temple, "So, I was the groom at Helwater for 8 years and was finally paroled and allowed to go free. I returned to Lallybroch, but it was no longer my home. It had no' felt like home since ye had been there wi' me. Not all that time I was in the cave or when I came back after Helwater. I had been gone so long that Jenny's bairns didna recognize me, I became a ghost. Jenny tried to convince me to remarry, but I couldna love anyone but ye and I didna even want to try. Eventually, after no feelin' like myself, I decided to move to Edinburgh. Fergus came wi' me since he couldna find any work being a man wi' only one hand. So I became a printer and a whisky smuggler. Fergus helped wi' the smuggling along wi' some men from Ardsmuir that had returned from the colonies. Now, tell me what has happened to ye in the 20 years we were parted, tell me about my daughter."

Claire shook her head, "First tell me what happened to Fergus's hand. You can't tell me something like that and not tell me how it happened."

Jamie smiled, "Aye, mo nighean donn. While I was livin' in the cave, like an animal, Fergus would bring me news of the family. He was comin' to the cave one day when he came upon a group of redcoats searchin' for me. He tried to fight them off and did a good job of leadin' them away from the cave, but they took his hand for the trouble. It was soon after that when I decided to turn myself in. I had brought to much danger to Lallybroch and my family."

Claire looked into his eyes, "Oh, Jamie, I am so sorry for every heartache you have had to live through. But we will change all of that now, we will get the price lifted from your head and we will make a good life for our family. We will go to France and rescue Fergus and we will focus on our family and stay away from that bloody Prince Charles and his idiotic notions of war."

Jamie nodded, "Aye mo ghráidh if I have learned one thing in all our years apart, it is what is truly important and what is worth fighting for. History and honor be damned, I will fight for us, but I am too old to fight in any more wars."

Claire grinned, "Jamie, you are exactly the age you were when I first met you. You are a young man again and not too old for anything, but I do agree, no more wars."

Jamie chuckled, "Aye, I suppose ye are right about that. But I have the wisdom of all those years and even though I have the body of a 23 year old lad, my mind is that of a 46 year old man who has experienced far too much sadness. I dinna intend to live the rest of my life in the same way. I intend to find happiness wi' my wife and the children that she sees fit to bless me wi'."

Claire turned back to face forward in the saddle and laughed, "I agree, now we just need to figure out what to tell Colum."

Jamie kissed her on the temple, "Nah, we have a few days to figure that out, now ye must tell me of yer time away from me. Stop stalling and tell me of yer life mo chridhe."

Claire blushed, "I wasn't trying to stall, I am just so curious about your life away from me and I suppose you are just as curious about my life. Alright then, here it goes, but be sure to stop me if you have questions. When I went back, I was taken to the hospital, I had been missing for three years and they want to evaluate me. They assumed I had been kidnapped and abused because I was pregnant. I insisted that none of that was true but they just assumed that I was delusional."

Jamie gave her a strange look, "What is delusional?"

She smiled, "It means someone who believes in something that is not supported by facts, they believe in fantasies."

Jamie nodded, "Aww, I see. Please continue."

"It didn't matter what I said, they didn't believe me, so I just stopped talking. Then Frank showed up at the hospital and at first, I was frightened of him, he looks so much like Black Jack Randall. Oh God, Jamie, we have to deal with him again."

Jamie tightened his embrace on her waist, "Dinna fash, mo ghráidh, we have the advantage, we ken what the future holds."

Claire nodded, "Right, anyway he wanted to know where I was for three years, what had happened to me. So I told him everything, about what happened, about us, I told him about it all. He didn't believe me either and was angry when I told him I was pregnant with your child. He raised his hand as if he was going to hit me, but stopped himself before anything happened. I told him that I didn't want or expect anything from him and he could just divorce me."

Jamie furrowed his brow, "What is divorce?"

"Divorce is the dissolution of a marriage between two people who no longer wish to be married. Well, Frank refused, he insisted he still loved me and wanted to raise the baby as his and my child. He had a stipulation that I had to agree to. He said that I could never speak of you, I had to leave the past in the past and I could do no research into the past. He said that I could never tell Brianna about you or the three years that I was with you. I wanted to reject him, and his conditions, but I had promised you that I would go back to him, so I accepted.

It was very hard because I no longer loved him, we couldn't get back what we had. My heart belonged to you and I lost it when I touched the stones and left you behind. We moved to Boston in America, the colonies because he didn't want anyone to know that Brianna was not his. However once she was born that no longer mattered, she was the female version of you. She had your red hair and blue eyes and was every bit the daughter of a Scottish highlander. Every time I looked at her I would think of you and for a moment it would make me happy, but then I would end up crying for all that we lost." 

Jamie put his chin on her shoulder, "When was she born, what was the day of her birth?"

Claire smiled, "She was born on November 23, 1948. It was a difficult birth and when the doctor asked if she was my first, Frank said yes at the same time I said no. He was shocked to hear that she was our second child and that I had not shared that with him. But when she was born, he fell in love with her, he was a good father to her."

Jamie frowned, "And was he good husband to ye? Were ye happy wi' him?"

Claire looked down toward the pommel, "I was happy raising Brianna with him, but our relationship suffered, it was never the same again. He wanted me to stay home and just be a mother to Brianna, but I had to much time to think about you and everything we could have had. I needed something more to fill my time, so I went to medical school when Brianna started school. He was angry that I wanted to do something more with my time. We decided to remain married for Brianna's sake, but I had my life and he had his. I had my work at the hospital and he had his mistresses, I don't know how many for certain, but there were several over the years. After Brianna was born, we had tried to find our way back to one another and had sex a few times, but I always found myself closing my eyes and wishing it was you. He noticed and then the sex stopped, that is when he began seeing other women. It didn't bother me as much as it probably should have, as long as he kept them away from Brianna."

Jamie growled, so Claire stopped talking and turned to look at him, "I wouldna have sent ye back to him if I had known what awaited ye. I wanted my wife and bairn to have a happy life, it doesna sound like that is how it turned out."

Claire shook her head, "Brianna was a very happy and fulfilled child. She was quite angry with me when I finally did tell her about you. She loved Frank dearly and couldn't understand how I could have been with you when I was married to him. But after she learned more about you and she saw how I talked about you, she began to understand that what was between us was so powerful and that she was created from love. She is the one that convinced me that it was alright to return to you.

I was happy with my work, it fulfilled me. Other than being a wife to you and becoming a mother to Brianna, becoming a surgeon was one of my greatest accomplishments. I suppose that I still have all that knowledge so I will be able to help more people in this time now."

Jamie kissed her on the nape of the neck between her curls, "Ye always were a surgeon, now ye have the title to go wi' it. I am so proud of all ye have accomplished mo nighean donn. Ye ken that I would never wish to hold ye back from what ye were born to be."

Claire sighed as she rested her head against Jamie's chest, "I know that my love. It's strange, there were things about me that Frank could never understand and it caused a chasm between us. But with you, I don't have to hide those parts of myself, you understand me, you know me and you accept and support me for who I am. Thank you, Jamie, to be loved by someone as you do me is a rare thing and I am lucky to have found you 23 years ago."

Jamie hummed into her hair, "We were both lucky 23 years ago and even more lucky to have found each other again today and get those 23 years back to do it all again."

Claire smiled, "Yes, to do it all again, but together this time. I will not allow you to send me through those stones again, I don't care what happens. We are meant to be together, whether that is in life or death, I am never leaving you again."


	3. Chapter 3

After both having had the chance to unburden their souls, the intimacy between them felt as if they hadn't spent even a moment apart. Jamie couldn't keep from burying his nose in Claire's messy curls and inhaling her unique scent to remind himself that he truly held her safe in his arms. For Claire's part, she relished the fact that she could again snuggle in the arms of her one true love after so many years of feeling all alone in the world. They both knew that they had given only a brief overview of their time apart and would be revisiting the discussion many times until they had talked through everything. Jamie was curious what Claire had meant by pains they had experienced while they were apart and Claire knew that Jamie was holding something back. However, for now, just being back together was enough, all the rest could wait.

Jamie kissed Claire on the temple to wake her early the next morning, "Wake up mo ghráidh, I must speak wi' ye."

Claire moaned and stretched, "What is it, Jamie?"

Jamie tightened his hold on her waist so that her stretching and moving about wouldn't cause them both to tumble off of his horse. "Mo nighean donn, I must tell Dougal of the redcoat ambush up ahead. Dinna say a word, I dinna wish to give the man any more reason to despise ye than he already does."

Claire snuggled closer, "Would it help if I just pretended to still be asleep when you tell him?"

Jamie chuckled, "Aye, perhaps it would. We both ken that ye canna tell a lie to save yer life and if ye appear to be sleepin' ye can at least bury yer face in my chest. Ye must turn in the saddle so that I may hold ye closer to me though. Do ye think ye can manage it wi' out havin' to stop the horse?"

Claire turned and smirked at him, "I can manage if you think your shoulder can take all of the jostling about."

Jamie kissed her on the shoulder, "Aye, I can manage, if ye recall I used my shoulder to fight off a group of redcoats last time. Besides, I dinna plan to do any fighting today, I willna release my hold on ye, no even for the bit of fun that it was last time."

Claire sat straighter in the saddle and prepared to maneuver her body around, "Hold onto me while I swing my leg over to the other side."

Jamie used his free hand to grip her hip and help her twist in the saddle in front of him, "Hold onto my legs so ye dinna slip, I've got ye, I willna let ye fall."

Claire nodded as she moved her hands back to hold onto Jamie's thighs and slowly swung her left leg up and over the horse's neck. Jamie moved his hand up her body a bit to allow her to twist her hips to the right as well. When she was fully turned, Jamie moved his arm up to cradle her back as she draped both of her legs over Jamie's right thigh. She wrapped her arms around his waist and tucked her face against his solid chest.

Jamie adjusted her body a bit so that she wasn't sitting so precariously in front of him. He didn't want her to slip from his grasp when he kicked his horse into a trot to pass the rest of the men. When he was happy that she was as secure as she was going to get, he gave her a quick kiss on the top of the head, "Hold on mo chridhe, I am gonna speed up to speak wi' Dougal, dinna move for anything, aye?"

Claire mumbled against his chest in affirmation. Jamie smirked, shook his head and kicked his horse in the flanks. The trail had widened up so it only took him a minute to pass the other men and reach Dougal's side. "Dougal, ye must stop."

Dougal frowned at him, but signaled for all of the men to stop so Jamie could go on, "We must prepare, I heard talk of redcoats lying in ambush at Cocknammon rock when I arrived back in Scotland. I noticed how close we are and I remembered overhearing the people in the village talkin' about it."

Dougal narrowed his gaze at him, "Why are ye waitin' till now to tell me of this. Murtagh met ye at the dock, not even a week past, ye could have said somethin' before."

Jamie glared at him, "I had no' thought anythin' of it when I heard it and was prepared to return to Lallybroch when I came back from France. Then wi' my wife fleeing Paris and showin' up as she did, I had other things on my mind. Since we are almost to the place that I heard indicated, I will be takin' my wife to safety before we have any fun killin' the lobster backs."

Dougal smirked devilishly, "Aye, take the lass and leave her in a safe place then join us."

Jamie nodded, turned his horse about then rode at a fast clip back in the direction they had come as he heard the MacKenzie battle cry rise behind him. Jamie rode to the area next to the little stream where he had first found Claire when she had tried to run from them. He pulled the horse to a stop and looked down at Claire as she peered up at him from under the edge of the tartan.

He grinned at her sheepish expression, "I've brought ye to the stream, do ye wish to wash, or perhaps ye wish to try yer luck at runnin' again. I can offer to throw ye over my shoulder again if ye wish."

Claire giggled as she attempted to sit up without causing them both to fall. "A wash would help, but I don't want you to put me down, I don't want you to get shot. There is no need, you already want me more than anything in the world and you already love me, so there is no need for me to lavish my healing charms upon you."

Jamie tickled her ribs, "Well, ye ken that yer married to a man that never tires of ye lavishin' yer charms upon him."

Claire snuggled close to him, "But I'm not getting down unless you promise to stay here with me instead of joining the rest of the men in the skirmish."

Jamie grinned and helped Claire to slide down off of the horse, then swung his leg over and joined her on the ground. "Could ye tie the horse, I canna manage it so easily wi' one hand?"

Claire nodded and took the reins from him to tie the horse to a nearby tree. Once she was finished, Jamie took her hand with his free hand and led her over to the stream. They knelt down next to each other as Claire scooped up water to wash her face and hands. She turned to look at Jamie and shook her head, "Do you know how filthy you are, you are in need of a good wash as well, my love."

Jamie lowered his gaze, "Aye, I didna remember how long I went wi' out bathing before I met ye. I imagine that I might no' smell that great, but ye, mo ghráidh, ye smell as fresh as a daisy."

Claire belly laughed, "Of course I do, you forget that I just came from the 20th century where I had a shower before I ate breakfast this morning."

Jamie leaned over to kiss her fully on the mouth but she leaned away from him, "Not until I wash your face, come here."

Jamie pouted, but leaned toward her as she tore off a strip of her dress and dipped it in the water."

Jamie furrowed his brow, "Why are ye tearin' yer dress? Yer no' wearin' much as it is."

Claire smiled, "Well, I won't need to tear it to bandage your bullet wound will I, so I have plenty to spare?"

Jamie frowned, "What bullet wound?"

Claire shook her head, "Exactly, you don't have one because you stayed here with me instead of joining in the battle at the ambush up the trail."

Jamie chuckled, "Awe, so ye are determined to keep me from earning new scars."

Claire smiled playfully, "I do rather love your body, no matter the condition, but if I can protect you from receiving any more bodily harm, then I will do everything in my power to see that you remain whole."

Jamie allowed Claire to finish wiping the dirt from his face then grabbed her by the upper arm with his left hand and drew her to him. He crashed his mouth to hers in a bruising kiss, pulling back only when they both needed to take a breath. He leaned his forehead against hers, eyes closed and a smile upon his face as he whispered against her lips, "I have missed ye so much mo ghráidh, I didna think I would ever laugh again. Now ye have come back to me and I feel as if I must cheer from the rooftops wi' how happy ye have made me."

Claire separated her forehead from his and leaned her head against his shoulder, "I know what you mean, if it wasn't for Brianna, I wouldn't have been able to go on."

Jamie stroked her hair, "Will ye tell me about her, about our daughter?"

Claire nodded, "Yes, but perhaps we should get back on the horse and prepare to return to the men."

Jamie nodded, "Aye, I'll help ye remount, but we willna go until Murtagh comes to fetch us."

Claire stood, then reached down to offer Jamie help standing up, he took her hand and pulled her back to him for one more passionate kiss. He released her when she was breathless and stood without assistance, offering her his hand. She took it gladly and allowed him to lead her back to the horse. Jamie used his good arm to swing up into the saddle then reached down to take Claire's hand, "Put yer foot on my foot as I pull ye up, wi' out havin' my other hand free, I dinna have the proper leverage to pull ye up."

Claire hiked up the hem of her dress, gave him her hand, and lifted her leg high up to use his foot as a step to help lift herself onto the horse. When she had settled in front of him again and they had the tartan wrapped around her shoulders, she leaned back against his chest and began to tell him about Brianna as they waited for Murtagh. "Your daughter is so much like you, I told you she has your coloring, but she also has your temper, your stubbornness, your ability to charm people. She is a leader just like you, she can work out any problem thrown at her, she loves fiercely and she doesn't let anyone tell her what to do."

Jamie kissed her on the shoulder, "She sounds a lot like ye as well. Ye told me once that woman of yer time have more choices than women of this time do. When ye left, had she found a husband yet?"

Claire shook her head, "No, it is different in the 20th century a woman doesn't need a man to become something. She can go to college like you did and become anything she wants to. She wanted to be a historian like Frank for a while, but recently she dropped out of college, not convinced that history was truly her passion. She had not yet decided what she wanted to be or do with her life when I left. She was close to a man, his name was Roger, but I don't know how serious it was between them. He was the one who helped me to find out that you had not died at Culloden. He was also the one that found the newspaper article that you had printed under the assumed name of Alexander Malcolm with the quote ' _Freedom and whisky gang tegither_ ' by an author who was only 6 years old on the date you had printed it and Roger knew that only someone with knowledge of the future could have known such a quote."

Jamie made a sound in his throat, "Well, I didna intend for it to lead ye back to me, but I canna say that I am no' happy that it did. That will all be different now that we have another chance. I willna have a reason to flee to Edinburgh and start printing traitorous pamphlets or smugglin' whisky to earn enough coin to keep Lallybroch afloat."

Claire frowned, "Why did you have to flee to Edinburgh? Were the British after you again?"

Jamie shook his head, "Well, no. I wasna a wanted man, no then anyway, but I was runnin' from a situation that I let myself get talked into. One that I am no' proud of and I will tell ye of it one day, but no' just now."

Claire nodded, "Alright, but we don't have to rush anything, we are starting with a blank slate and anything we did in those 20 years apart, they no longer matter."

Jamie sighed, "I canna tell ye how glad I am to hear ye say that. Some of the things that I must tell ye, may no' be easy to hear and I will tell ye, but no just yet. Can ye trust me to tell ye when the time is right?"

Claire nodded, "Of course, I can wait, besides I know that if you were forced into making choices that you wouldn't have otherwise made on your own, you likely had no choice in the matter or perhaps you didn't see another way out. I can wait, I will wait forever if I must."

Jamie squeezed her against him, nuzzled his nose into her curls, and closed his eyes to take in her scent once more, "Deo Gratias super Omnes Santos."

Claire turned to peer up at him, "What are you thanking the Lord and saints for?"

Jamie smiled and placed a kiss on her temple, "For giving me such a rare, understanding woman."

Claire leaned back against him, "How can I hold something against you that you did in another life, mistakes or choices that you haven't yet made in this life and now hopefully in different circumstances, you won't feel pressured to repeat."

Jamie looked at her thoughtfully, "A rare woman indeed. Nah, I willna have a need to repeat such mistakes wi' ye by my side mo ghráidh. No matter what might come our way, we shall face it together. I willna be parted from ye and our bairns again."

Before they could share anymore, Murtagh's horse came thundering up, "Where were ye lad, ye missed out on all the fun?"

Jamie sat straighter in his saddle as he faced his godfather, "Aye, I did, but I wasna gonna leave my wife all alone to fend for herself, no' wi' redcoats loiterin' about."

Murtagh scoffed as he looked at Claire skeptically, "Aye, I can see that, but we best be gettin' on wi' it now. Dougal is no' a patient man and he doesna wish to wait for ye any longer."

Jamie kicked his horse into a trot and followed Murtagh back to meet up with the group, both Jamie and Claire kept quite as they joined the rest of the men. Dougal glared at Jamie for having stayed with Claire instead of joining in the fight but kept silent and kicked his horse into motion. The rest of the men followed suit with Jamie, and Claire following up at the back of the group. Once they had ridden for a bit and gained space from the men again, Jamie leaned forward to whisper in Claire's ear, "We have one more night on the road, but since I wasna shot, we likely willna be stoppin'. We will arrive at Leoch tomorrow and I think the best thing to do will be to tell Colum that we wed in France and ye couldna wait for me to return so ye took the next ship to Scotland so we could be together again. Ye are no' wi' child yet so we should work on that immediately so he canna find a reason to dissolve our marriage and try and marry me off to a Scottish lass."

Claire growled, "You mean a Scottish lass like Laoghaire MacKenzie?"

Jamie groaned, "I willna be makin' that particular mistake again."

Claire elbowed him playfully, "You had better stay away from her if you know what is good for you."

Jamie chuckled as his hand stroked her side, "Tis a good thing that I do ken what and who is good for me, then, is it no'?"

Claire grinned, "To right, you do. The only lass you had better be kissing is being held tight between your thighs just now."

Jamie pressed a wet kiss to her cheek, "My wife is the only lass I will be kissin' until my daughters are born. But I dinna think I can wait much longer to bring them into the world and hold them in my arms."

Claire leaned against him and hummed, "I have longed for that day since I first discovered I was pregnant with Faith. I can't wait for the day that I can see you hold our newborn children against your heart. So much was taken from us, I am thankful that we have been given a chance to take it all back again."

Jamie leaned his cheek comfortably against her soft curls as a sweet smile spread across his face, "Aye, as am I, my Lady."


	4. Chapter 4

Since Jamie had not been shot this time during their journey to Leoch, the remainder of the ride was uneventful. They arrived a bit sooner than they had the first time since Jamie didn't have to chase after Claire and she didn't have to patch up his shoulder in the middle of the night. The group rode up to the castle and both Jamie and Claire found themselves reminiscing about the first time they had made this particular journey together. Claire snuggled tighter into Jamie's chest and his arm instinctively tightened around her waist.

The group rode into the courtyard with Jamie and Claire at the back. All of the men dismounted and as both Jamie and Claire predicted, Auld Alec began chastising Rupert about his inability to care for the mare he had ridden. Jamie tried to hide the chuckle that threatened to bubble up at the look of betrayal on Alec's face and Rupert's blatant dismissal of the entire affair. Jamie helped Claire to slide down from his horse before he carefully dismounted and came to stand next to her. This time, Claire helped Jamie to begin removing the horse's tack and was startled by the sound of Mrs. Fitz's voice coming from behind her, "What do we have here then?"

Claire spun around and Jamie's hand shot out to catch her, landing on her hip to keep her from toppling into the mud. Jamie drew her to his side and kissed her on the temple. With a proud grin, he introduced her, "This is my wife, Claire. Claire this is Mistress FitzGibbons."

Claire wanted to show the woman the proper respect she deserved right from their first meeting and proceeded to curtsy before her, "It is a pleasure to meet you Mistress FitzGibbons, Jamie has told me so much about you."

Mrs. Fitz's eyebrows rose nearly to her hairline, "Yer a Sassenach and married to Jamie?"

Claire blushed, "Yes, I am a Sassenach and proud to call Jamie my husband."

Mrs. Fitz looked Claire up and down, "What happened to yer clothes lass, yer standing here in the freezin' rain in no' but yer shift. Come wi' me and we will find ye somethin' more to wear that's a bit, well... more."

Claire turned and grinned at Jamie and he kissed her on the temple and let his hand move to the small of her back to gently guide her into the castle as the couple followed Mrs. Fitz. As they followed Mrs. Fitz through the familiar corridors of the castle, they both instinctively began to turn to the right, but Mrs. Fitz continued straight on. They exchanged a confused look and Jamie just shrugged as they continued to follow Mrs. Fitz to a room that was clearly not the one she had led them to before. 

After a long trudge through the halls, she led them up to the fourth floor bridal chamber that they had shared after returning from collecting rents. "Since ye just informed me of yer nuptials, I have no' had the time to decorate it properly for ye, but it will be so, come the morrow. I'll have some maids fetch ye up some fresh water to wash and I'll bring ye a clean shift and a dress to wear Mrs. Fraser. Make yer selves at home while I fetch everything."

Claire and Jamie watched as Mrs. Fitz turned in a swirl of skirts and left them standing alone in the room. "Well, that certainly was different than the first time."

Jamie chuckled, "Aye, it was. I suppose she took my word for it that we are wed. I imagine before too long, we will be findin' ourselves in front of Colum explainin' ourselves."

Claire huffed as she plopped down on the bed, "I suppose you are right. Hopefully, he is more forgiving this time and doesn't send you away. I can't let you go now that I finally have you back after 20 long, miserable, lonely years without you."

Jamie walked over and lowered himself to sit on the bed next to her, "Aye, I willna let ye go either mo ghráidh. Those 20 years livin' in an empty existence was enough for me to ken that I dinna wish to spend another moment parted from ye. Now that I have ye back, I willna let ye go, no matter who orders me to."

The two sat quietly after that, waiting for Mrs. Fitz's return. Claire's head laid against Jamie's shoulder as his good arm was wrapped around her shoulders and their free hands twined together. Each of them drawing soft circles in the other's palms. A soft knock came at the door before it swung slowly open and Mrs. Fitz stepped in with a large pot hung on one arm and a ewer full of water cupped in both of her hands.

She stepped to the side to hold the door open for two young lads who carried in a large wooden tub for the pair to bathe in. Following the lads was none other than Laoghaire MacKenzie. "Jamie, Claire I'd like to introduce ye to my granddaughter Laoghaire, she has just come to stay here with her father after her mother passed away. Laoghaire, this is Mr. and Mrs. Fraser, they are kin to our Laird and ye will treat them wi' the respect that they are due."

Laoghaire curtsied to them and kept her eyes lowered to the ground, "Tis fine to meet ye Mr. and Mrs. Fraser, please let me ken if there is anythin' ye be needin'."

The lads' hat set the tub down by the hearth and left the room during the introduction. Mrs. Fitz showed Laoghaire where to put her ewer full of water and then ushered the girl out. "I dinna ken if ye will wish to rest before ye wash so I shall leave the pot wi' ye for ye to decide for yer self. Jamie, I ken that Himself will be pleased to hear that ye have arrived safely back from France. He will be expectin' ye both at supper tonight but be sure to get some rest. There is much to celebrate now that ye have returned from yer studies and wi' a bride."

With that, she curtsied to the couple and left the room. Claire stood up and walked over to be sure the door was locked. She turned to look at Jamie in utter bewilderment, "That was strange, tell me that I'm not the only one who thinks so."

Jamie shook his head, "Nah, it was quite strange indeed. Mrs. Fitz introduced me to Laoghaire as if I didna ken who she was and the lass acted as though she didna ken me either. I dinna ken what is going on or what changed, but somethin' is amiss."

Claire nodded as she walked over to Jamie, effectively eliminating the distance between them. "I absolutely agree, but before we investigate, you need a bath, you are filthy. Strip those clothes off while I heat the water."

Jamie chuckled but did as his wife instructed after she removed the belt that was holding his arm in place. He took off everything but his shirt and sat at the foot of the bed to wait for her to heat the water. She heated half the water and poured it into the tub, then she poured a bit of the still cold water into the hot water to cool it down a bit. She heated the rest of the water and set it aside to cool partially before adding it. Jamie shucked off his shirt and strode over to the tub. He gingerly stepped in, testing the temperature with his toes before fully immersing himself in the blissfully warm liquid. As he was leaning back to rest against the back of the tub, Claire stopped him as she exclaimed in alarm, "Jamie, your back."

Jamie stiffened and furrowed his brow as he looked over his shoulder to peer at Claire, "What's the matter wi' ye woman, ye have no' ever had a problem wi' my scars before."

Claire shook her head and took a step closer, "It's not that. Jamie, your scars, they're... well, they're gone."

Jamie tried fruitlessly to peer at his back but gave up quickly since the angle was impossible. He used his fingers to feel across the skin of his back that he could reach and was astonished to find that the skin there was smooth. "Are ye sure, they are all gone?"

Claire nodded, "Yes, Jamie, all of them. Your back appears as though it is untouched by a cat of nine tails. It's how I dreamed it would be if I could have been there to care for you when it first happened. I wish I had a mirror to show you, but there is something I can do. You always said there were parts of your back where you couldn't tell if I was touching you are not, so let me try."

Jamie leaned forward in the tub so that Claire could place her hands on him. She moved her hands gently over his entire back, causing goosebumps to rise and a shiver to run through his body. "Did you feel that?"

Jamie sighed, "Aye, I could feel every touch. What do ye suppose happened to them, to the scars I mean?"

Claire shook her head, "I really don't know, but it seems we have yet another puzzle to solve."

Jamie leaned back against the wall of the tub, "Aye we do, but while we think about it, I could be washing, hand me that soap will ye."

Claire rolled her eyes and got up to fetch the soap off of the table, where Mrs. Fitz had placed it when she brought everything up. 

Jamie finished bathing as Claire stoked the fire to keep the room warm as she took her turn in the tub. Jamie stood up and stepped out of the tub as Claire handed him a towel to dry off. She stripped off all of her clothes, poured the rest of the water in, and stepped into the tub. She lowered herself down and leaned back. With her eyes closed, she let a sigh of contentment escaped her lips. Jamie wrapped his towel around his waist, causing it to resemble a makeshift kilt and knelt down next to the tub to help Claire wash. He picked up her left hand and pressed his lips against each of her knuckles. However, when he reached the fourth finger he stopped, furrowed his brow, and looked down at her hand, "Sassenach, when did ye remove the gold ring that Frank gave to ye?"

Claire's eyes popped open, "I haven't done anything with it. I never took it off my finger, except for the day you and I got married." She looked down at her bare finger that didn't even bear any evidence that she had ever been wearing a wedding ring. She furrowed her brow, "That is strange, my finger is bare, but it doesn't feel unusual to be bare. I don't understand what is going on, why there are so many changes. I'm also quite curious to see what else has changed and I know that we will never truly know why things are different, other than this is an alternate reality. By both of us touching the stones at precisely the same time over 200 years apart, it must have triggered a wrinkle in time."

Jamie nodded as he released her hand, "Aye, we must speak to others and find out what else is different. I ken that I must no' have been flogged if I dinna have the scars. But what does that mean for everything else that happened that day or since then?"

Claire took his hand in hers and pressed his palm against her heart, "I don't know Jamie, but so far the changes have all been positive. If you were never flogged, does that mean you were never arrested?"

Jamie shrugged, "I dinna ken. I still have all the same memories as before, but some of them seem a bit like a dream, trapped behind a haze and no' entirely clear."

Claire nodded, "It's the same for me. I know who Frank is or was to me, but I can't seem to remember his face, it's like you described. It's as if his face his behind some smoke. I know it's him behind that smoke, but I couldn't describe his face to you if I tried."

Jamie looked into her eyes, "Aye, tis as if I ken the man who tortured me all those times, but his face is a mystery to me. I couldna point him out from a dozen other soldiers of his King's army."

Claire huffed as she slumped down with her chin barely out of the water, "This all just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser." 


	5. Chapter 5

Jamie pushed all thoughts of the things that had changed from his mind and carefully scrubbed each inch of Claire's skin. When she was finally clean, he stood up and pulled her to a standing position before lifting her from the tub and carrying her to their bed. He laid her gently down and her fingers caught the edge of his towel, causing it to fall to the floor. He stood beside the bed, staring down at her beautiful skin, still glowing from his attentions in the bath. Claire peered up at him, raking her eyes from his hair, down over his face, taking in his sparkling blue eyes. She tore her gaze from his eyes and moved onto his luscious full pink lips, imagining what they had done to her in the past and what she wished for them to do to her again.

Then her gaze traveled down to his strong shoulders and arms, then across his chest that contained so much power that it caused a shudder to run through her. Her gaze finally drifted down to her favorite part of his anatomy, that sexy v line the pointed straight to his straining cock. 

Jamie watched as her gaze moved over his body and when her eyes came to rest on his cock, her chest heaved and a groan escaped from deep in his chest. It was too much for him to restrain himself any longer, "Open yer legs Sassenach, I need to be inside of ye. It has been 20 years since our bodies became one and I canna wait a moment longer."

Claire nodded and let her legs fall open, revealing her core, already glistening with the need of him. Jamie crawled up on the bed, positioned his thighs under her buttocks, and looked down at her core, the sight of it causing his cock to twitch with want. "Oh, Sassenach, this may no' last long, but I must be in ye now."

Claire smiled and reached for him, "Come to me, Jamie, I need you to bury your cock deep inside of me now."

Jamie growled, "Aye, lift yer hips up lass."

Claire obliged and Jamie took hold of each of her thighs, positioning himself at her core. He lifted her hips a bit higher and pistoned into her with such force that she cried out. Jamie suddenly stopped, "Have I hurt ye, Claire?"

Her eyes were wide, "Jamie, I don't know how or why, but I think I was a virgin until just now. Look down and tell me if there is blood on your cock."

Jamie pulled his cock partially out of her and his eyes grew wide, "Aye, there is. Do ye want me to stop?"

Claire shook her head, "No, it only hurts right at the beginning when you break the barrier, and as my body becomes accustomed to yours. But it would be helpful for you to take it a bit slow at first, at least until my body stretches to accommodate the size of your cock. You are not a small man by any means and for my first time, you might be a bit much at first."

Jamie nodded and slowly slid back into her, watching as his cock disappeared into her pink folds. It took everything he had not to pound into her and make her yell out in pleasure. After a few strokes, he tore his gaze from the place of their joining and looked at Claire's face. "Are ye ready for more, am I bringin' ye pleasure or is it too much too soon?"

Claire nodded, "I think I am ready for more. I want to feel all of you, just not to rough this time. Next time we should be alright to forego any gentleness."

Jamie thrust into her harder but held back so that he didn't cause her any harm. He picked up speed as her chest began to heave and the sweet squeaking sounds escaped her lips. He felt her body begin to flutter around his cock, then she threw her head back and dug her fingernails into his forearms. The moment she fell over the edge in her ecstasy he could no longer hold back his own release and he followed her into oblivion as her body milked his seed from him.

He collapsed on top of her and moved a bit to the side to keep from crushing her, "How was that for yer first time mo ghráidh?"

Claire grinned at him, "All I have to compare it to are my memories of being with you, but the memories don't do the real thing justice. It is always a pleasure to lie with you, Jamie. But I must say for my body not remembering anything about sex, that was amazing."

Jamie groaned, "That wasna just sex, Sassenach, I was makin' love to my wife."

Claire blushed, "I know that my love, I didn't mean to offend you. I don't know what it is between us and even after all this time, it is still there. When we make love, it is as if we are one being and I can't tell where I end and you begin."

Jamie placed a kiss over her breast, "Aye, ye said once that we were soulmates, that our souls were two halves of one whole. When we lie together it is as if those two pieces are mending together and I feel like I am more than just a man."

Claire squeezed his hips with her legs that were now wrapped around him, "Yes, you are so good with words, I couldn't describe it better if I tried."

Jamie hummed against her chest, "I ken that we have laid together hundreds if no' thousands of times during our time together before, but that felt like my first time. No' so much like the first time we made love, but like I have no' done that before."

Claire nodded, "Mine as well. It felt as though you took my virginity, but I don't understand how that can be. I know I was married before I fell through the stones and I must have had sex with that man, but the evidence is contrary to my knowledge. I can't remember having sex before, I have no memory of being with anyone else before I met you."

Jamie chuckled, "Our lovemaking has erased all others from your mind."

Claire furrowed her brow, "No' that's not it. My memories are not only fading, they are also changing."

Jamie lifted himself up to distribute his weight on his elbows as he looked into her eyes, "What do ye mean, mo ghráidh?"

Claire looked into his eyes as if she would find the answers there. "I can remember the three years I spent with you clearly, but I am having trouble distinguishing what my life was like before I fell through the stones. I know what I told you about being a nurse in the war and going to Scotland on holiday with my husband, but I don't remember having a husband."

Jamie furrowed his brow, "What do ye remember?"

Claire thought for a moment, "I remember going to Scotland, but I went there to finish some research that my uncle Lamb and I had been doing before he died. He had been researching some stories about standing stones all over the world. We had planned a trip to Scotland since that is where my mother was from, she had told my uncle stories about some standing stones. They were said to have special powers and allow some people to pierce the veil of time. Uncle Lamb was skeptical, but he never dismissed myths or stories until he was able to prove that they were either based in fact or a complete fabrication. I traveled to Scotland to finish his research after the war ended. I watched the druids dance at the stones, then walked up the hill when I heard the stones call to me. I touched the stones and wished that the stories my mother had told were true and that I would be carried away to another time. To a time without so much violence and noise. That is how I came to meet you in that cottage."

Jamie rolled off of her and gathered her against him, "Claire that is no' what happened, ye were no at the stones to finish yer uncle's research."

Claire frowned, "Somehow I know that, but the more time that passes, it is harder to accept that it is not true. What about you, are any of your memories changing?"

Jamie thought for a moment and then his eyes widened, "Aye, they are. But I dinna ken what to make of them. Tis as though they are wishes of my heart and I canna remember what are true memories and what my mind has made up."

Claire leaned up on her elbow to look into his face, "Tell me, what is it that you remember from before?"

Jamie smiled a smile that Claire had never seen on his face before, "I remember my mother, my father, my brothers. I ken that Willie died when I was just a lad, but I have memories of him as a man wi' a wife and bairn. I have memories of my mother crying as I watched her from the deck of the ship when I sailed to France to attend university. I remember my little brother Rabbie helpin' me and da in the fields."

Jamie suddenly sat up, "Claire, ye said that when we touched the stones that we caused a wrinkle in time, an alternate reality. Do ye think we changed more than just erasing the 20 years that we spent apart and reliving the three years we were together? Do ye think that we changed our pasts as well?"

Claire sat up, "I really don't know, but the new memories we both have certainly make it seem possible."

Jamie adjusted his body and leaned up against the headboard, bringing Claire to lean her head on his shoulder, "Do ye still remember those 20 years we spent apart?"

Claire frowned, "I do, but that time, those memories are a bit cloudy as well."

Jamie tightened his grip on her shoulder, "Sassenach, I dinna wish to make the same mistakes as before. I dinna want to forget ye."

Claire nodded, "Neither do I. I think we need to write everything down in a journal while we can still remember it."

Jamie nodded, "Aye. I will ask Murtagh to fetch us a couple of ledgers tonight at supper. We should write everything down tonight. I have some things that I need to tell ye so that I can be completely honest about those 20 years I spent parted from ye. I ken some of it will be painful for ye to hear, but ye deserve to ken before I forget. I will be writing about it and I dinna wish for ye to read it to learn of it for the first time. I shall tell ye tonight before we write our journals."

Claire swallowed the lump in her throat, "Yes, I have a few things that I need to share as well. I think the best way for us to get past them is to tell our truths and then leave it in our past. We can't change what we did or what happened to us during those 20 years apart, but with the second chance we have been given, those choices no longer have a hold on us. We must move forward, together, no matter what it is that we each have to reveal."

Jamie sighed, "Aye, we must. And I think I have solved at least one of our puzzles if our theory is correct."

Claire looked into his eyes, "Which puzzle is that?"

Jamie kissed her on the tip of her nose, "I ken why Laoghaire acted as she did."

Claire's eyes widened, "Why?"

Jamie smirked, "I have never met the lass before today. This is my first time at castle Leoch, at least according to my new memories."

Claire grinned, "Oh, now that is a blessing if I ever heard of one. That means she won't think she has a claim on you and hopefully won't be after my husband and causing all sorts of problems."

Jamie chuckled, "Aye, we can only hope. I can tell ye one thing, once that lass has her sights set on someone she doesna give up, even after 20 years of chasin' a man."

Claire tilted her head to the side as she narrowed her gaze at him, "How would you know that?"

Jamie looked away from her, but she grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her, "Ye had been gone for 18 years and I had lost all hope of bein' a husband and a father. Jenny pressured me into it and I thought I could be all those things I thought I had to say goodbye to when I sent ye through the stones. I was wrong, it was a mistake that I have wished a thousand times I could take back."

Claire sat up and glared at him, "What mistake would that be, you are going to have to spell it out for me James Fraser, because I am not following what you are trying to say."

Jamie slumped his shoulders, "I married Laoghaire, it lasted only a few months, but it did no' even take that long to ken it was a mistake."

Claire jumped off the bed, her body flushed in anger and her eyes blown wide, "You married her, for God's sake Jamie, she tried to have me killed."

Jamie's eyes grew wide, "She what? I never would have married her if I would have kent that."

Claire paced back and forth, "Why did you marry her and why her?"

Jamie got up off the bed and walked over to stand in front of her, "Will ye calm down and listen to me and I'll tell ye everything?"

Claire huffed and sat down hard at the foot of the bed, "Fine, but you better start soon."

Jamie pulled up a chair and sat down in front of her, "Now remember, we have been given a second chance, those 20 years have been erased."

Claire glared at him, "Fine, but I am still angry, now tell me, why?"

Jamie reached out to take her hand but she pulled it out of his grasp. He sighed and sat back in his chair, "Ye ken that I lived in a cave and spent time in prison then was paroled to a place called Helwater. I need to start there for ye to truly understand."

Claire frowned, "I don't know what your servitude has to do with that little brat, but go on, I'm listening."

Jamie nodded, "While I was in Helwater, I had to use a fake name. The Dunsany's son was killed at Culloden and Mrs. Dunsany never would have allowed me to serve my time there if she kent that I was the famous Jacobite kent as Red Jamie. While I was there, I wrote to Jenny using my real name. One of the daughters, Geneva Dunsany got her hands on my letters and threatened to tell her mother who I really was unless I did as she asked."

Claire's anger had eased a bit as she saw the pain in his face, "What did she make you do?"

Jamie groaned in irritation, "She was set to be wed to a man older than her father and she didna wish to give her maidenhood to an old man. She said that if I were to lay wi' her that she wouldna tell her mother my real name. So I did, I laid wi' her even though I didna wish to. Later I found out that she was wi' child, wi' my child. She bore a son, his name was William, but I couldna claim him as mine. He was a bastard."

Claire gasped, "Did you love his mother?"

Jamie shook his head and reached out for her hands which she allowed him to take this time, "No, Sassenach, I have never loved anyone but ye. But I am guilty of her death, she died in childbed and I am more guilty because I didna love her."

Claire shook her head, "I am sorry about your son, but that is only in your memories now. That girl has another chance to live and you will not be going back to Helwater to father her child."

Jamie raised her hands to kiss her knuckles, "Aye, that is the hell of it. I ken that, but it doesna make me feel any less guilty."

Claire leaned forward to caress his face, "Hopefully those memories will fade as well and your mind can be at peace."

Jamie turned his head to place a kiss in her palm. "Aye, that is my hope, but that is no' all of it."

Claire sat back, "Then tell me the rest, if I am to forgive you, I need to know everything."

Jamie nodded, "Aye, ye do. On the day that William was born, Geneva's husband, the 8th Earl of Elsmere, threatened to kill the bairn. He kent the child was no' his and I killed the man to save my son. The Dunsany's offered to free me, but I couldna leave William. I coudna be a father to him, but I could watch him from afar. When he was 3 years old, Lord Dunsany brought him to the stables for his first riding lesson. I spent more and more time wi' the lad, but by the time he was 6 years old, the likeness between us was becoming obvious to everyone who took a close look. I had to leave before visitors began to see the similarities between us. I returned to Lallybroch, but it wasna my home. Jenny's bairns didna ken me, I was a ghost. I couldna be a father to any of my bairns and I couldna be a husband to ye. 

After a couple of years of living as a shell of a man, living in the shadows I came to the house. It was my first Hogmanay at Lallybroch since I was a lad. Jenny had the house decorated and everything shined and sparkled. There were these two lasses that asked me to dance wi' them. It was the first time I had laughed since before ye went through the stones. I later found out that Laoghaire was the mother of the lasses. She had lost both of her husbands and was in need of a man to care for her. I was in need of something, I dinna ken what, but I thought that by marrying Laoghaire, I could fill that hole in my heart. I could have that chance to be a father and husband again. But it wasna meant to be, I loved the lasses and grew quite close wi' them, but the relationship wi' me and Laoghaire it wasna good. When we were not arguing about this or that, she wouldna speak to me for days, weeks even. But I welcomed the silence, it was better than her anger. I tried to be gentle wi' her, but when I would try to touch her, she would shy away from me. I couldna bear the thought of someone being afraid of my touch, so I left. I fled to Edinburgh and became the printer ye kent as Alexander Malcolm."

Claire wiped the tears from her face, "Oh, Jamie. I am so sorry, if I would have known you were alive all those years, I would have come back sooner. You have lived through so much pain and heartache. I am so sorry that you didn't get a chance to raise any of your children. I knew that when I decided to come back that you would have lived a life and I hoped you had been able to find happiness. I cannot be angry with you for searching out whatever happiness you could find. I am just sorry that in the search for that happiness you had to endure so much pain."

Jamie shook his head, "Tis all in the past now, only in our memories. We have been given another chance to raise our children together and I willna lose that chance wi' ye again. I willna part from ye, no matter what. That bit of happiness that I found in those 20 years is naught compared to spendin' the rest of my life wi' ye by my side. I would gladly give it up again and again to have that chance wi' ye. And by the grace of God, we have been given that chance to do it right this time."

Claire caressed his cheek again, "Yes, my love. We have and I do not intend to waste a moment of it."

Jamie leaned back in his chair and released her hands, "Now, tell me what secrets ye are keepin' from me."

Claire nodded, "Yes, I suppose that it is only fair. I don't have as much to share as you, but there is one thing. After I first found out that Frank had strayed from our marriage, and Brianna had started school. I met a man, and what drew me to him was his accent. He was a Scot and if I closed my eyes I could imagine that it was you that was talking to me. He was young and inexperienced. I was only with him once and I kept my eyes closed as I directed him on how to pleasure me. I took him to a motel, or what we would call an inn in this time. I stayed with him for several hours and took my pleasure from him. Later I returned home to Frank and Brianna and acted as if nothing had happened. Brianna was 5 years old when that happened and I had not been with a man since, not until today when you made love to me again."

Jamie scrubbed his hands over his face, "Christ Sassenach, I am so sorry. That is a long time to no' feel a gentle touch of someone who cares for ye."

Claire nodded as a tear escaped her eye, "Yes it is and that is why I buried myself in my work. After I was with him, the hurt of not having you was even greater and I knew that I could not separate the pleasure I sought from the longing my soul had for yours. I could not have one without the other, what I needed was you and I thought you had died. So I let my heart die as well. My patients became my whole life. I couldn't even bear to look at Brianna without feeling the pain of not having you."

Jamie looked down into his lap. "I ken the feeling lass. The night before I was to be turned into the British, Mary MacNab came to my cave and offered herself to me. No' to try and replace what ye and I had, but only to offer a man who had lived as an animal for 7 long years a bit of comfort before going to prison for presumably the rest of my life. I have lain wi' three women since ye left me, but I didna love any of them. I only have ever loved ye, mo chridhe and I will spend the rest of my life proving that to ye if I must."

Claire cupped his face with both hands, "I know you love me and you don't have to worry about the past anymore. Mary gave you the same comfort that I sought from that young Scotsman. A bit of human contact is necessary to remain sane. I don't blame you for seeking it. But from now on, we look forward, we have our entire lives ahead of us. We will face whatever comes our way, together. We know what is to come and we know what we need to do in order to avoid it."

Jamie leaned into her hand, "We might no' ken what is to come. Since our memories are changing, we might be faced wi' many surprises. We must live our lives day by day and no' let anything or anyone come between us."

Claire nodded, "Yes, you are quite right. But we do know about the rising and the failed rebellion, I don't think that will change. I think the changes we are experiencing are small things that matter only to us. We need to keep our heads about us and never lose hope that we will survive this together."


	6. Chapter 6

Going down to the great hall this time around felt quite a bit different to Claire, "Jamie, you have no idea how glad I am that you are here with me this time. I was so scared last time when I entered and everyone was staring at me with suspicion in their eyes as if I was here to poison them."

Jamie squeezed her hand as they walked down the hall, coming closer to the sound of the castle residents enjoying their evening meal. "Dinna fash, Sassenach, I willna leave yer side, save to fetch us somethin' to eat."

They entered the great hall together, hand in hand and Jamie led Claire to a table where Murtagh was waiting for them. Claire glanced up at the head table and noticed that the place where she had sat last time next to Colum was not, in fact, empty but occupied by Dougal. She quickly looked away and brought her attention back to the people around her before either Colum or Dougal took notice of her curious gaze.

Jamie had seen where Claire's gaze was drawn and gave her hand a quick squeeze to remind her that she was not alone this time. Jamie had noticed how tense Claire was as they entered the great hall and didn't want to leave her alone for too long. He trusted Murtagh to watch over her, but Murtagh didn't yet know how important she was to Jamie. Jamie worried that his godfather would take the opportunity alone with her to interrogate her and with Claire's glass face, it wouldn't take much for Murtagh to realize she was hiding something. "Sit wi' Murtagh, mo chridhe, he willna let any harm come to ye." He waited for Claire to take a seat then went to go fetch them some food and something to drink. 

Claire wasn't quite sure what to do with herself in this situation. She knew these people that surrounded her, even knew secrets about them that they had shared with her during her time at Leoch before, but they didn't know her. She couldn't very well attempt to strike up a conversation with some of these people that she had come to know as friends until they had the chance to become used to her again. So instead of trying to form relationships at this stage, she folded her hands in her lap and quietly waited for Jamie to return.

Murtagh looked at her a question apparent in his expression, "Out with it already. I can see that you want to ask me something so just say it."

Murtagh made a Scottish sound in his throat, "Jamie says yer his wife and the two of ye act as though it's true fine enough. But if yer his wife, why did he no' write home and tell his family of ye? He wrote to his sister Jenny and told her about a lass that he met, but her name was no' Claire."

Claire gritted her teeth and reminded herself to remain calm, "You must be talking about Annalise, yes I am aware of her. Jamie and I met after the whole debacle with Annalise. He was probably afraid that if he put what was in his heart to paper that he would be tempting fate. But I can tell you that what we have is real, I did marry Jamie and would do it again in a heartbeat. He is the love of my life and I will not be parted from him again."

Murtagh snorted, "I canna put my finger on it, but there is somethin' strange about ye, about this whole situation. I can see that what is between the two of ye is real enough, but I will be expectin' an explanation from both of ye. Dinna expect me to wait long for it either, I am no' a patient man."

Claire coughed to hide the giggle that was attempting to escape, "I'm sure that Jamie and I can find time to explain everything to you, but not here and not now."

Murtagh didn't reply so Claire resumed sitting in silence and waiting for Jamie. 

Jamie walked over to the long table where all of the food was laid out and noticed that Laoghaire was helping to serve the food. Even though his first time meeting her had only been a few hours prior to the meal, he tried to avoid any interaction with her. But avoiding her altogether seemed to be impossible as she handed him two cups of ale, "Mr. Fraser, would ye like some ale for ye and Mrs. Fraser?"

Jamie bowed his head, "Thank ye lass."

Laoghaire returned his bow with a small curtsy but her gaze didn't linger on his face or body as it had done so many times in his previous life. Jamie made a mental note of one more thing that was different and breathed in relief that things were different with Laoghaire this time. In his previous life, he had gotten so used to Laoghaire always being around, smiling at him, following him and trying to get his attention that he didn't even realize after a while how much attention she was paying him. He realized that Claire was right to be wary of the lass last time, she had seen what Jamie hadn't and she had tried to warn him about it. He had been so oblivious to Laoghaire's obsession with him that he had finally agreed to marry her. No, he would not be repeating any of his mistakes from before, he wouldn't do anything to send Laoghaire the wrong message. He and Claire were fortunate to get a second chance and having the opportunity to start it with one less obstacle in their path was a blessing.

Jamie returned to the table, placed Claire's plate and cup in front of her, and placed his dinner next to hers. Just as he got settled on the bench next to her, there was a tap on his shoulder. Jamie turned to see who wanted his attention to see Willie standing behind him, "Jamie, Himself asked me to tell ye that he would like to see ye both in his study in the morning."

Jamie nodded, "Thank ye, Willie, please let Colum ken that we will be there."

Willie bowed and returned to his own table on the other side of the hall. Jamie finally looked at Claire and noticed how nervous she appeared. He leaned over to whisper in her ear, keeping his voice low enough that only she would hear what he had to say, "Sassenach, are ye alright lass?"

Claire sighed and turned so she could speak quietly to him, "Murtagh suspects something, what are we going to tell him. I trust him with my life, well I will I suppose, but he doesn't trust me. If we decide to tell him, what do we tell him?"

Jamie furrowed his brow, "I ken we must tell him somethin', but I dinna ken what we should tell him just yet." He placed a comforting hand on her thigh, "Let's no' talk about this now, we will figure it out later. Right now we should eat and think about what we are to say to Colum in the morning. Murtagh can wait."

Claire nodded, "Yes, you are right, we have more pressing matters. But perhaps we can let Murtagh read our journals when we are finished writing them."

Jamie tilted his head to the side as he thought it over, "Aye, perhaps. I dinna ken just yet."

They settled in to eat their dinner, keeping the conversation to a minimum. Murtagh watched the pair closely and when he could wait no longer, he spoke up, "So, tell me, how did the to of ye meet?"

Jamie and Claire exchanged a look, silently agreeing that Jamie should be the one to answer, "I dislocated my shoulder and Claire was the one to fix it."

Murtagh frowned at Jamie's short answer, "How did ye dislocate yer shoulder lad?"

Jamie growled, only loud enough for Claire to hear, "I fell off my horse."

Murtagh slapped the table, startling not only Claire and Jamie but those sitting close around them. "I ken there is more to it lad, ye never answer me like that. What are ye keepin' from me?"

Jamie pressed his lips together and hissed under his breath, "Aye, I am keepin' it to myself and I'll tell ye everything, but ye ken it as well as I do that we canna trust a soul in this castle, so shut yer gob and find some patience."

Murtagh's brows rose to his hairline as his mouth fell open in shock at the way Jamie had spoken to him. Then it was as if he realized his mouth was still open and he clamped it shut and with a curt nod to Jamie and Claire, he got up and walked out of the dining hall.

Jamie shook his head, "I dinna like talkin' to him as such, but I had to make him stop."

Claire rubbed his arm, "I know that and he will understand after we speak to him, but you are right, we can't trust anyone, not with the secret we are keeping."

Jamie took hold of her hand and placed a kiss on her knuckles, "Finish yer dinner lass, and then we shall go in search of somethin' to write with before returnin' to our chambers."

When they were finishing up and almost ready to leave the dining hall, Mrs. Fitz came over to check on them, "Jamie, Claire did ye get enough to eat?"

Jamie nodded, "Aye, thank ye Mrs. Fitz, but we were just leavin'. I need to find some writing implements before we head back to our chambers."

Mrs. Fitz furrowed her brow, "Well I can get those for ye and have them sent up, but who would ye be writin' to? Yer father and brother will be here tomorrow or the next day to fetch ye back to Lallybroch, they already ken ye to be here lad."

Jamie swallowed past the lump that suddenly appeared in his throat at what Mrs. Fitz had suddenly revealed, "My brother?"

Mrs. Fitz patted Jamie's shoulder, "Aye, yer brother Rabbie is coming since it's William's job to stay behind and tend to the estate."

Jamie's eyes widened, but Claire stopped him from responding by placing a hand on his forearm, "Thank you, Mrs. Fitz, we would be most grateful if you could have that send up. The truth is that I would like to write a letter to a friend in France, letting her know that I have arrived safely, and found my husband."

Mrs. Fitz's expression softened, "Aye, I suppose ye would. Ye likely willna have time once ye return to Lallybroch and have all of Jamie's family vying for yer attention and gettin' to ken ye."

Claire nodded, "Yes, that is exactly what I was thinking as well."

Mrs. Fitz walked away to tend to her kitchen duties and Claire brought Jamie's attention back to her by cupping his chin, "Jamie, hey look at me, love."

Jamie lifted his gaze from the table and focused on her eyes, the lines in his forehead softening as he looked into their whisky colored depths, "I hear ye Sassenach."

Claire smiled and kissed him on the nose, "I know what you must be thinking and we will find out soon enough, but right now we need to focus on our past. We need to go up and write everything down before we forget it all."

Jamie nodded, "Aye, I ken ye are right but did ye hear what she said? My father and both Willie and Rabbie live, does that mean that my mother lives as well, are my memories to be believed?"

Claire smiled softly, "I don't know, we won't know until we return to Lallybroch, but we can't dwell on that now, we have a job to do and it cannot wait."

Jamie wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her against him, "Aye, yer right, let's go up to our room."


	7. Chapter 7

They didn't have to wait long after returning to their room when there was a knock on the door. "Aye, who is it?"

"Tis Tammas, Mr. Fraser, Mrs. Fitz asked me to bring ye a quill and some paper. She said that yer wife was wantin' to write to her friends back in France."

Jamie got up from his chair next to the fire and walked over to unlock and pull the door open. Once the door was opened, the boy bowed to Jamie before handing over the writing implements, "Thank ye lad, send Mrs. Fitz our thanks as well."

The boy bowed again, "Aye, sir, have a good night."

Jamie gave the boy a smile and softly closed the door, making sure it was locked again before walking over and joining Claire at the small table near the window. Alright Sassenach, ye can write down everythin' ye remember first and then I will take my turn."

Claire nodded as she took the quill, ink, and stack of paper from him.

She placed everything on the table to begin writing and Jamie went back to sit by the fire, giving her a bit of privacy so she could get lost in her memories and commit them to paper.

She looked at the paper, then up at Jamie, "Do you think we need to write down the memories from our three years together or should we just focus on the 20 years we spent apart?"

Jamie tore his attention from the dancing flames in the hearth and looked over at her with a furrowed brow, "Well, for me, the three years are clear as day, the memories are no' like those of the time we spent apart. What about ye, are ye losin' those memories?"

Claire shook her head, "No, I remember everything about those three years as if they were yesterday."

Jamie thought for a moment then gave a small nod, "Well, then, I suppose ye should focus on the 20 years we spent apart for now and we can write about the three years later if we feel as though those memories are slippin' from our minds as well."

Claire smiled, "That is a great idea. We can read what each other remembers when we are finished."

Jamie nodded, "Aye, tis likely the best way no' to leave anything out. I'll leave ye to it then."

Claire nodded and turned back to the paper and began writing.

_Jamie pressed my hand to the stone, I went through those bloody stones, feeling as though my body was being ripped apart and the screams were so loud I wished I was deaf. I could feel the hands reaching out to me, trying to tear the child from my womb. Somehow I protected the child and made it through._

_I woke up on the other side, back in my time, back in 1948. I left the hill and began walking toward Inverness when a man in a car pulled up behind me. He asked me if I was alright and I screamed at him, wanting to know who won the battle of Culloden and when he confirmed my greatest fear, I collapsed on the ground sobbing._

_He got me into his car and delivered me to the hospital. The doctors called my friend to come and get me, I told her what happened and she let me stay with her until I could get back on my feet. On November 23rd, 1948 I delivered a daughter, Brianna Ellen Fraser. My friend allowed us to live with her until Bree was old enough to attend school._

_I needed something more to do with my time once Brianna was gone for half the day, so I went to medical school to become a doctor. Brianna flourished at the elementary school in Inverness and even learned the Gaelic language of her father. I graduated from medical school when Brianna was 8 years old and became a surgeon at Raigmore Hospital._

_When Brianna was preparing to enter college she once again asked about her father and I told her of him again. That is when she brought a friend home, a man named Roger Wakefield who was a history professor. He was interested in the Jacobite rising of '45 and apparently Brianna trusted him enough to tell him who her father was and that he was the 'Red Jamie' of the history books. Roger found proof that Jamie had lived. I felt guilty for never having the courage to look back myself, but was grateful to Roger for finding the proof that I needed to return to my husband. I prepared for my journey and the three of us went to Craigh Na Dun where I bid Brianna and Roger goodbye. Little did I know at the time that it would be the last I ever saw of them._

_But now we have been given another chance, a chance to raise Brianna and perhaps her sister Faith with their father, together._

Claire looked up from her stack of used parchment. "Alright Jamie, I have written everything down. Would you take a look at it before you write yours?"

Jamie got up from his chair and walked over, "Of course, mo ghráidh."

Claire smiled and handed him the stack of papers. He read through them, his brow furrowed the whole time and when he finished he placed the papers back on the table, "Claire, this is no' what ye told me when we were on the horse, is this what ye remember happening?"

Claire nodded, "Well yes, I mean I have these hazing images of something else that happened, should I write about that?"

Jamie sat down across from her, "Aye, I think ye must, but keep it separate from this."

Claire furrowed her brow, "Alright, but those 'memories' are more like dreams or nightmares, these memories are so clear."

Jamie shook his head, "Aye, I ken, mine are the same, but please trust me and write about the hazy memories as well, aye?"

Claire nodded, "Alright."

Jamie got up from the table and returned to his chair near the fire, curious about her new memories.

Claire furrowed her brow and tried to concentrate on the hazy memories and began writing.

_I returned to my own time in 1948, I was taken to the hospital and they called my husband of that time, I think his name was Frank, Frank Randall. We moved to Boston Massachusettes in America where nobody knew the story of the woman stolen by the fairies. He made me promise not to tell my child that he was not her father. He made me promise to forget my past and never go looking for the man I had left behind._

_The marriage was not good, he sought compassion in the arms of many other women when I could not give it to him and I buried myself in my work. I became a surgeon and worked long hours, mainly to avoid having to face him. He died in a car accident when Brianna was 18. Two years later we took a trip to London and learned of the death of Reverend Wakefield. We attended his funeral and wake which was held at the manse and later decided to spend a bit more time in Scotland. I visited Culloden moor, the museum, and Lallybroch, saying my goodbyes to Jamie._

_Somehow Brianna found out that Frank was not her father and confronted me. I told her everything about the stones, time travel, and her real father. She was angry with me and thought I had gone mad. Eventually, she realized I was telling the truth when we witnessed another traveler, Geilles Duncan traveling through the stones. Brianna revealed that she had found proof that Jamie had survived Culloden and over the next several months, we tracked him through time._

_Unfortunately, we lost his trail and I gave up hope of ever seeing him again. But then Roger found proof that he was living in Edinburgh in 1766 as a printer going by the name of Alexander Malcolm. I began to prepare for my return by gathering necessary items, such as medicine, coins, a gem to keep me safe as I traveled through the stones as well as making an 18th century styled dress to wear back._

_But when I touched the stones, I was thrown back to 1743 and somehow ended up in my younger body with a chance to do things right._

Claire set the quill down and looked over to Jamie, "Alright love, I think this is what actually happened when you sent me back, will you come read it to be sure?"

Jamie stood up and stretched, and as he came over to join her at the table, he glancing out the window, noting how late it was by the darkness outside. He sat down across from her and she pushed the new stack of papers toward him. He moved the candle so he could see better since the light spilling in through the window from outside had completely disappeared. After reading through her new accounts of the past 20 years he nodded and placed the stack back on the table, "Aye, that is the gist of what ye told me when we were on the horse. I suppose I shall write down my memories as well."

Claire nodded, "Yes you should. While you do, I'm going to remove my clothes and sit in my shift by the fire, it's getting late and I want to be ready for bed when you finish."

Jamie nodded and moved the stack of clean parchment as well as the ink and quill closer to him to begin writing. Claire turned back toward him as she was unlacing her dress, "Perhaps you should write both versions, just as I did. We might eventually lose both sets of memories since we are getting a second chance at living through them again."

Jamie looked up at her and nodded, "Aye, tis a good point. I'll do just as ye did and write down what is clearest in my mind then go back and write down the hazy memories."

Claire nodded as she returned to removing her layers of clothing.

Jamie dipped the quill and began writing. 

_I pressed Claire's hand to the stone and returned to the battlefield. I fought across the field, killing every redcoat in my path, then turned back and killed some more. I was shot at some point and eventually lost consciousness due to the blood loss. Rupert found me and took me to an abandoned barn with several other men, a few of us were spared due to a debt of honor. We were allowed to return home to Lallybroch._

_My mother and Jenny nursed me back to health and demanded to know where Claire was. It was several days before I found the courage to tell them the truth. I told them about Claire's knowledge of the battle and what was to come after it. My father contacted Ned Gowen and immediately began to petition for my pardon. He gathered several tenants to give witness accounts to the fact that Claire and I were in Scotland at the time that Charles Stuart claimed I had sighed his letter of support._

_My pardon came a year after the battle at Culloden moor had taken place. Until then, I hid in the priest's hole or in the cave at the northern edge of the estate when the Redcoats would come around._

_Since my wife had gone and I had no plans to remarry I sailed to France and became a partner in Jared's wine business. We lived as bachelors, visiting Versailles several times over the years. One day I received a letter from my Mam that father was feelin' poorly and she was requesting that I return home immediately._

_I sailed at once for Scotland and met Willie in Inverness. Our route took us past Craigh Na Dun and I asked Willie if we could stop. I wanted to visit the place where I had last seen Claire. I pressed my hands to the stone that stole her away from me and was suddenly hurled into a blinding darkness. The screams of the trapped souls tore at me, but I fought against them and thought of Claire. When I woke, I realized that I was back in 1743 on my 23rd birthday in my 23 year old body. I had been given another chance to live the life that Claire and I had dreamed of._

Jamie looked up at Claire and noticed that her eyes were closed and her head was tilted to the side as a soft snore came from her open mouth. She had fallen asleep while he had been writing. He got up from his chair, walked over to her, and bent down to scoop her delicate body up into his arms. He smiled and kissed her on the temple as she curled against him. Jamie walked over and placed her gently down on the bed, pulling the quilt and sheets from beneath her then adjusting them on top of her to tuck her in. He leaned down and placed a tender kiss on her forehead then went back to the table to write down his account of his hazy memories.

He dipped the quill and took a clean sheet of paper from the stack and began writing.

_I pressed Claire's hand to the stone, returned to the battlefield, and eventually killed Black Jack Randall. He had made a deep slash in my left thigh, nearly castrating me before I plunged my sword into his body. His dead body laid atop of me for several hours until Rupert came and found me. By the grace of God, I was spared due to a debt of honor that William John Grey claimed he owed me. I was sent home to Lallybroch and the Colonel that sent me, surely thought I would die along the way. But Jenny wouldna let me die. She cleaned my wound wi' boiling water and gave me another chance at life._

_I hid in a cave for 7 years and after Fergus lost his hand, I convinced Jenny to have me turned in. I was arrested and taken to Ardsmuir Prison and remained there for the next three years. When the prison closed, I was paroled to a place called Helwater. I fathered a son, named William there. He was created due to blackmail by the eldest Dunsany daughter who died in childbirth. I remained at Helwater to see my son grow until he was 6 years old._

_I returned home to Lallybroch, but it no longer felt like home wi' out Claire there. Eventually, Jenny convinced me to remarry and the lass she chose turned out to be a mad woman named Laoghaire MacKimmie (MacKenzie), the verra same from castle Leoch. The marriage was a farce and I fled to Edinburgh to escape it. I became a printer, smuggler, and traitor. Eventually, I went to Craigh Na Dun, when the memories of Claire wouldna let up. I touched the stone and was hurled back to 1743 to be given another chance wi' Claire._

Jamie set down the quill and looked over at Claire's sleeping form once more. He smiled softly at the sight of her, capped the inkwell, removed his clothes, and climbed into bed next to her. He pulled her against his chest in spoon fashion and nuzzled his face into her curls. "I love ye mo nighean donn and I willna ever forget that."


	8. Chapter 8

Jamie felt her soft curls tickling his nose as the fresh herbal scent of her filled his senses. He squeezed his eyes tighter, willing the dream of her lying in his arms not to float away like the mist just yet. He nuzzled his nose deeper into her hair and squeezed her body against his as an agonizing moan rumbled deep in his chest. He had lived for 20 years without her by his side and he was loathe to wake up and lose her all over again. He felt her begin to stir against him and he squeezed his eyes tighter, willing the tears not to squeeze out. 

Claire opened her eyes and recognized the room in Leoch immediately. She tried to turn in Jamie's embrace, but he only squeezed tighter as a sad sound escaped him. She furrowed her brow and tried to turn to look at him, but he buried his nose against her shoulder and squeezed his arms a bit tighter around her waist. He was squeezing so tight that she was having trouble taking a deep breath. She wiggled a bit more to try and wake him so he would release her, but it had the opposite effect that she had hoped for, "Jamie, for God's sake, you are squeezing me to tight, let go so I can look at you."

Jamie gasped, his eyes popped opened, and he relaxed his arms around her at the sound of Claire's voice, "Yer real, oh mo nighean donn, I thought I was dreamin' of ye again and I didna want ye to leave me when I woke up."

Now that Jamie had loosened his grasp, Claire was able to easily turn over and place a hand gently on his face, "Oh, my love. I am so sorry for leaving you, I will never leave you again, you have my word."

Jamie nodded and closed his eyes as she used her thumbs to wipe the tears from his cheeks. She placed a tender kiss on his lips and he opened his eyes, "I ken that, Sassenach and I willna ever send ye away again."

Claire smiled softly at him, "Now that we have that settled, I wanted to tell you what I was dreaming about and thinking about last night as you wrote down your memories."

Jamie quirked an eyebrow, "Tis a dangerous thing, to think."

Claire slapped him playfully, "Oh, hush up, you know what I mean."

Jamie chuckled and captured her hand in his so he could press kisses over her knuckles. "Aye, what was it that ye were thinkin' about?"

Claire smiled as he pressed a kiss over her fourth finger, "Actually I was thinking that in this lifetime, we are not truly married yet, we need to remedy that immediately."

Jamie nodded, "Aye, I was just thinkin' the same thing."

Claire kissed the tip of his nose, "And how do you plan to do that? I know that our last wedding happened so fast due to Dougal bribing the priest, but I don't think we have that luxury this time. I know that typically there is a waiting period of some kind, but I don't know how long or why that is."

Jamie nodded, "Aye, usually, when ye dinna bribe a priest, there will be banns read on three consecutive Sundays. The three weeks that it takes for the banns to be read allows for anyone to raise any canonical or civil legal impediment to the marriage, so as to prevent marriages that are invalid."

Claire grinned, "Well, we have nothing stopping us from being married before a priest since the only person either of us was ever married to before was each other and that was another lifetime. But that still takes three weeks after we talk to a priest, how do we speed things up, since we don't have a reason or means to bribe a priest.

Jamie grinned wickedly, "Nah, we dinna have reason to, but that does no' mean that we must wait, we can be handfasted, at least until we get to Lallybroch and can have a proper wedding wi' my family."

Claire frowned, "I haven't heard of that before, what is handfasted?"

Jamie chuckled, "Handfastin' is like what we did wi' the blood vow at our wedding, but instead of doin' it in front of a priest, we can just do it here between the two of us."

Claire sat up suddenly excited, "Well, what are we waiting for, let's do it."

Jamie sat up and pulled her into his arms, "Ye have no idea, how keen I have been since first meetin' ye to see ye so eager to wed me."

Claire grinned, "Of course, I am eager to marry you, James Fraser, you are the love of my life, you are my heart and soul. I simply cannot live without you. Now, where is your dirk?"

Claire jumped off the bed and went in search of his dirk as Jamie swung his legs out of bed and pulled the dirk from under the edge of the feather mattress, "Tis just here, do ye no' remember how I always kept it close in case I needed to protect ye, that has no' changed in the past 20 years."

Claire rolled her eyes, "Yes, I remember now. Bring it over here by the hearth so I can sterilize it."

Jamie dutifully walked over to her and pulled the dirk from its scabbard and passed it to her, hilt first. "Dinna cut yer self."

Claire swiped the dirk from him, "I'm not the one that is accident prone, am I?"

Jamie chuckled as he watched her place the tip of his dirk in the glowing embers of what remained of their fire from the night before, "Why do ye no' let me build up the fire first?"

Claire looked up at him from where she knelt next to the hearth, "Yes, that would be helpful, but try not to get any splinters in your torso or your cock. I plan to enjoy my husband after we are officially married." 

Jamie knelt down next to her, "I dinna think I have much to worry about since I dinna need to fetch any more wood, we have plenty here. I willna be usin' anythin' but my hands to place a few logs on the fire. But thank ye for yer concern."

Claire giggled, "What, I am just eager to call myself Claire Fraser again and to claim you as my own. You don't even realize how many young lassies scowled at me last time when I returned from collecting the rents as your wife. You were quite the hot commodity and I doubt that has changed this time." 

Jamie shook his head and decided not to reply to her last statement and placed a couple of logs over the glowing embers and used the fire poker to push the logs around until tiny flames started to lick at the bark and ignited the fresh wood with a crackle. He waited a few minutes before moving to ensure that the fired didn't die out the moment he stood. When he was happy that it would remain lit, he stood back up and waited again for Claire to sterilize his dirk. He walked over to the chair and grabbed his tartan, rubbing his fingers over it and getting lost for a moment in thought. He had lived for the past 20 years without being able to look upon his clan colors or feel the rough wool in his hands and now he had the chance to do so again. It was a bittersweet thought that he would lose that ability in three years' time, again. 

He shook his head to dispel the melancholy thoughts and turned back toward Claire, "Here, lass, give me the dirk so I can wipe the soot off of it."

Claire nodded and handed it to him, "What are we going to use to bind our wrists?"

Jamie finished wiping the dirk then looked up at her, "Do ye still have the dress ye wore through the stones?"

Claire nodded, "Yes, I couldn't bring myself to burn it just yet, I don't know why, but I kept it."

Jamie smiled, "Well, since ye didna have a need to use it as bandages for a bullet wound to my shoulder this time, perhaps ye can tear off a strip so that we may use it to be handfasted."

Claire gave him a matching smile, "That is an excellent idea. Give me just a second to tear off a big enough piece."

Claire walked over and pulled the dress from under the bed, ripped a wide strip from the bottom of it, and walked over to join Jamie by the hearth. She handed him the stip of cloth then tossed the rest of the dress into the fire. "There, now I have said goodbye to my old life, I am ready to start my new life with you, Jamie."

He set the dirk and strip of cloth on the mantle and pulled her against him, "Finally, ye are all mine and no other man and no other time has any claim on ye."

Claire giggled as she laced her hands around his waist and stroked her hands up and down his back, and murmured against his lips, "I am all yours, James Fraser." 

Jamie kissed her on the top of her head and grinned down at her as he released her, "Aye, ye are, now hold out yer wrist, mo ghráidh."

Claire smiled, lifted her chin, and proudly held her wrist out toward Jamie. He took hold of her hand and lifted her wrist to his lips and placed a soft kiss there, then swiftly drew his dirk across the tender skin, causing the blood to well up to the surface. He released Claire's wrist and pulled the dirk across his own wrist. Claire grabbed the strip of fabric as Jamie placed his dirk back on the mantle and they each took an end of the fabric, tied a knot, and bound their wrists together.

Once the knot had been tied, Claire looked up to see Jamie staring down at her lovingly, "Alright, now what do we do?"

Jamie grinned, "Now we say the blood vow, although I must say that it is quite hard to concentrate wi' a bride so beautiful standin' before me."

Claire blushed from the tips of her toes to the tips of her ears, "Oh, stop, I'm not even wearing a beautiful gown this time."

Jamie quirked his brow, "Nah, ye are wearin' naught and I didna think I would ever be blessed to have ye bare before me as we wed."

Claire giggled, "Well, you look pretty dashing yourself in nothing but your skin. But judging by your beautiful erect body, that God must have sculpted himself, we better hurry these vows along so we can consummate our marriage, again."

Jamie gave her that crooked half smile and the effect was immediate on her own state of arousal. Jamie flared his nostrils and grinned at her heady scent reaching him. His voice came out husky when he began, "I think it would be alright to do them in English and we can practice them later in Gáidhlig for our weddin' wi' my family at Lallybroch."

Claire nodded, "Sounds good to me. I'm ready when you are."

Jamie cleared his throat, "Repeat after me" Claire nodded, so he continued, "Ye are blood of my blood and bone of my bone, I give ye my body that we two might be one, I give ye my spirit till our life shall be done."

Claire wiped a tear from his cheek as he reached up to do the same to her, then she murmured the vow back to him, her voice cracking with emotion, "You are blood of my blood and bone of my bone, I give you my body that we two might be one, I give you my spirit till our life shall be done."

Jamie leaned down and kissed her tenderly on the forehead, "I have a bit more that I would like to say to ye as well."  
Claire's eyes glittered with more unshed tears as she nodded emphatically, "Blood of my blood and bone of my bone, ye carry me within ye, Claire and ye canna leave me now, no matter what happens. Ye are mine, always, if ye will it or no', if ye want me or nay. Mine and I willna let ye go."

Claire crushed herself against his chest, trapping their bound hands between them and threw her free arm around his neck, pulling his head down toward her and murmured against his lips, "I am yours James Fraser and I am not going anywhere, you are stuck with me for the rest of your life, whether you will it or not."

Jamie grinned against her lips then crushed his lips against hers in a bruising kiss. After a moment they both reluctantly pulled back and pressed their foreheads together, "So does that make it official, are we married now?"

Jamie chuckled, "Almost, now we must consummate our union, then it will be official."  
Claire pulled out of his embrace and pulled the tail of the strip of fabric that bound them together and let it flutter to the floor below them. Jamie didn't waste a moment and bent over to effortlessly scoop her into his arms and carry her over to their marriage bed.


	9. Chapter 9

They lay together, wrapped in each other's arms in the afterglow of their lovemaking, just simply staring into one another's eyes. Jamie stroked his thumb over the apple of Claire's cheekbones, "Things will be different this time, mo ghráidh, ye have my word on that."

Claire closed her eyes as she felt the weight of anxiety lift off her shoulder at the words of Jamie's promise to her. She opened her eyes and stared into his deep pools of blue, "I'm going to hold you to that promise James Fraser. We were given a second chance for a reason and with the wisdom we have both gained over these past 20 years, there is no reason that we should find ourselves repeating our past mistakes."

Jamie nodded and leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on the tip of her nose, "Nah, we ken what is comin', there is no reason at all that we canna make better choices."

Claire reached up to caress the morning stubble on his cheek. "First thing, first. Your uncle will be expecting us, we better get up and prepare for the day ahead."

Jamie let his head fall back on the pillow as he watched Claire climb out of bed and walk across the room toward the hearth in all her naked glory. She turned back and looked at him over her shoulder, "Well are you just going to lie there all day, or are you going to get up and get dressed?"

Jamie grinned that sexy smile that made her melt into a puddle, but she couldn't give in, they had people to face. "Nah, just admiring the beauty and grace of my wife for a moment."

Claire blushed and sashayed her hips a bit more as she continued across the room to pick their clothes up off the floor. "Well, I will never refuse a compliment from such a sexy highlander, but truly Jamie, we don't have time to waste, get up and get dressed. Besides you still need to shave before we go see Colum."

Jamie rolled his eyes, but swung his legs over the side of the bed and got up to take his clothes from her. "Will ye help me shave, lass?"

Claire walked over and placed a kiss between his collar bones, right at the dip of his throat, "Of course, my love."

Jamie kissed her forehead, tossed all but his tartan on the bed then bent over to spread his tartan on the floor and begin pleating it. Claire stood watching him for a moment, "You know, that's something I missed witnessing every morning."

Jamie turned and looked over his shoulder at her, a wicked grin on his face. She slapped his arse, "Not the view of your arse, although that is quite the delectable sight, what I meant was, I missed watching you pleat your kilt so skillfully each morning. Well, in all honesty, there were so many things I missed about our life together, but watching you prepare for the day, it brings a comforting feeling over me and I haven't felt this at ease in twenty years."

Jamie's expression softened as he abandoned his kilt, stood up, and turned around to take her in his arms and stare deep into her eyes, "I have missed ye as well, mo nighean donn. I have missed holdin' ye against me, pressin' my lips to yers, speakin' my heart to ye, even havin' ye chide me when I would do somethin' foolish. But God willin' we dinna ever have to face the pain of missin' one another again."

Claire laid her head against his chest, "Yes, my love, God willing."

As they were finishing getting dressed, there was a soft knock on the door. "Mr. Fraser, Himself has asked that ye and yer wife join him in his study."

Jamie finished buttoning up his waistcoat and walk over to the door. He cast a quick glance back at Claire to make sure she was decent before unlocking and opening it. Mrs. Fitz stood on the other side, "Good mornin' lad, I'm glad to see yer up and about, shall I tell Himself that ye will be right up?"

Jamie turned again to check Claire's progress, "Aye, we will just finish dressin' and head up to see him."

Mrs. Fitz gave him a curtsy then turned on her heel and rushed away. Jamie closed the door and walked over to where Claire was tucking in her stomacher. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder, "Are ye ready to face him mo nighean donn?"

Claire turned and pressed a kiss to his cheek, "Yes, let's go."

Jamie took her hand, placed it in the crook of his arm, and led the way out of the chamber, down the hall, and up another flight of stairs. When they approached Colum's door, Jamie gave two quick, but hard knocks then awaited invitation to enter. 

A few minutes later, Colum's voice boomed from the other side of the door, "Come in."

Jamie looked at Claire, they nodded at each other in unison and Jamie opened the door, allowing Claire to step inside first. He almost ran into her back when she stopped suddenly in front of him. Jamie looked down at her and placed a hand on her shoulder "Claire, what is it mo ghráidh?"

Claire turned her head to look at him, her eyes wide and her mouth gaping open. Jamie frowned then followed the direction of Claire's gaze as she turned to look back into the room. His eyes widened at the sight before him and his voice came out in a whisper, "Da?"

Claire could hear the tremor in Jamie's voice and quickly turned around to ensure he was alright. She put her hands on his shoulders, "Are you alright, Jamie?"

He tore his gaze from his father and looked down at Claire as if he had forgotten she was standing there. Then a slow smile spread across his face as he brought himself up to his full height and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, "Aye, I'm alright mo chridhe. Da, I would like to introduce ye to my wife, Claire Fraser. Claire this is my Da, Brian Fraser."

Claire lowered her eyes to the floor demurely and curtsied to her father in law, "It is so nice to finally meet you, Mr. Fraser, Jamie has told me so much about you."

Brian walked closer and his eyes widened as his gaze bounced back and forth between Jamie and Claire, "A Sassenach?"

Claire blushed and looked up at Jamie, not knowing what to say. Jamie squeezed her tighter against him and pressed his lips into a tight line, "Aye, she is, but I love her, so it doesna matter."

Claire smiled lovingly up at Jamie, which did not to unnoticed by Brian's hawk like gaze on the two of them. He relaxed his expression and patted Jamie on the shoulder, "Congratulations son." Then he turned to Claire and gave her a small bow, "Welcome to the family lass."

Claire smiled softly, "Thank you."

Jamie pulled her closer to him and kissed her on the temple before directing his attention back to his father, "Have ye come to fetch us back to Lallybroch then?"

Brian's eyes grew wide at his son's stern tone. "Aye, I have, yer mother has missed ye these past years and it appears ye have been keepin' things to yer self while ye were away in France."

Jamie cleared his throat, looked down at Claire then back up at his father, "Aye, I have. Allow us to return to our chamber to fetch our things, we will meet ye in the courtyard in 20 minutes."

Brian bowed to his son, "As ye say, lad, dinna tarry too long, Rabbie is waterin' the horses as we speak."

Jamie nodded and led Claire from Colum's study. They walked quickly back to their chambers and Jamie stayed unusually silent the whole way. When they stepped inside their chambers, Claire pulled on Jamie's hand, "Hey, talk to me."

Jamie's shoulders slumped, "I'm sorry, mo ghráidh."

Claire furrowed her brow and placed both of her hands flat against his chest, "For what?"

Jamie shook his head, "For my father's behavior, I canna beleive he called ye that, tis no' a polite thing to say."

Claire raised her eyebrows in amusement and leaned up to murmur against his lips, "Jamie all he called me was a sassenach."

Jamie frowned at her, "Aye, I ken and he should no' have done that."

Claire giggled, "Jamie, you call me that all the time."

Jamie backed away from her, began pacing, and ran his hands through his hair in frustration, "Tis no' the same thing and ye ken it. I dinna mean it like that, tis... well, tis a form of endearment. Yer bein' English is one of the things that I love about ye. Ye are like no one else I have ever known, yer different, tis why I call ye Sassenach, but yer my sassenach and I dinna want anyone else to call ye that."

Claire walked over to him and stopped him before he could take another step, "I know you mean it in a loving way and I don't think your father was trying to be derogatory toward me, I think he was just caught off guard by my accent."

Jamie placed his hands on her hips and pressed his forehead to hers, "What did I do to deserve such an understandin' wife."

Claire leaned up and kissed him on the nose, "I think it was me who is lucky to have you. Now, let's not keep your family waiting. They haven't seen you in four years and they are eager to learn all about what you have been doing since they last saw you."

Jamie nodded and kissed her on the forehead, "Aye, yer right." He used a finger under her chin to lift her eyes to his again. "Ye ken that we will have to tell them everything."

Claire nodded, "Yes, everything, but I only want to have to tell it once, so I think we should wait until we return to Lallybroch and face your whole family at once."

Jamie pressed his lips to hers, "Aye, and I only hope that they believe us." 

Claire looked down and pressed her forehead into his chest, "We have both lived through it and its hard enough to believe it myself. I don't really mind if they don't believe us, I just hope they accept us."

Jamie nodded as he pulled her tighter to him and rested his chin on the top of her head. "Yer right, we canna ask too much of them, but above all, I too wish for them to accept us. If they dinna then we will find our own place in this world. After all, I am no longer the Laird or even future Laird of Lallybroch. My only responsibility is to ye and the bairns that we will one day have."


	10. Chapter 10

Jamie and Claire both chose to ride together on Donas while Brian rode his horse and Robbie drove the wagon with their trunk in the back. Murtagh had some business to see to in Cranesmuire and would catch up with them in a few days. Jamie held back and let his father and brother lead the way so that he and Claire could have a bit of time to talk amongst themselves. "Sassenach, the memories of my life, this new life, they are becoming clearer. I believe that by the time we reach Lallybroch, the old memories, or the original memories of what truly happened will be gone."

Claire nodded, "Yes, the same thing is happening with me, and the 20 years apart, those are the new memories as well. What do you suppose it means?"

Jamie shook his head, "I dinna ken for certain, but what I do ken is that we have been given a second chance and we willna be parted again. We will do what we must to be sure both of our bairns make it into this world."

Claire turned in the saddle to look into his eyes, "I thought you wanted twelve children?"

Jamie shook his head, "I'll take as many as God sees fit to bless us wi', but wi' Willie as Laird, we no longer have Lallybroch or the room for that many weans. I dinna ken what is to happen to us."

Claire turned forward in the saddle and nodded, "Yes, of course, I had forgotten that. Have you formulated a plan for us?"

Jamie made a sound in his throat, "Aye, I'm workin' on one, but we must return to Lallybroch and see if my family accepts ye first."

Claire turned to look at Jamie, "I know it's going to take us about 5 days to reach Lallybroch and surely your father and brother will be curious about us and ask questions when we stop tonight to rest. I can't help but wonder, what are we going to tell them?"

Jamie furrowed his brow and scrubbed his hand over his face, "I dinna wish to lie to them, but I dinna wish to tell our story more than once. Perhaps we shall just wait and see what questions they ask of us and we will go from there."

Claire nodded as she turned around and watched her new family riding in front of them, "Yes, I think perhaps that is best and I trust whatever you decide to tell them, after all, I am no longer the only time traveler in this marriage."

Jamie leaned down and kissed the top of her head tenderly, "Aye, that is true enough."

After their brief discussion of what to tell Jamie's family had ended the pair fell into a comfortable silence, relishing in their newfound freedom. Before they knew it, Brian was bringing their small caravan to a halt, "I think we will stop for the night. The horses have already gone twice this far and they are in need of a rest before we push on."

Robbie pulled the wagon up next to a tree and climbed down to release the horse that had been pulling it. Jamie dismounted then reached up to help Claire down. Jamie hobbled his horse and went off in search of something for their supper while Claire collected wood and built up the fire. Rabbie readied their bedrolls while Brian stood back and watched the ease of Jamie and Claire's interactions. He noticed how Jamie tenderly touched Claire whenever they were close and the loving way in which they looked upon each other when they were separated.

By the time Jamie made it back to camp he had caught a few fish for their supper and collected some berries and greens to have with the fish. Jamie handed everything to Claire and she began to prepare a stew for their group. Rabbie didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, but Brian was anxious to find out more about the strange sassenach that had managed to capture his son's heart. However, Rabbie, being only 14 wasn't one to hold his tongue, "Jamie, how did ye and Claire meet?"

Jamie who had been focused on whispering to Claire looked up at his brother's voice, "Well, Rab, Claire fixed my shoulder after I fell off my horse and dislocated it."

Robbie seemed to accept this without further explanation, but Brian took this opening to ask his own questions. "When did ye fall off yer horse?"

Jamie looked over at Claire, a tender smile on his face as he answered, "I suppose that it's been quite a while ago now."

Brian quirked his brow and hummed in contemplation, "Yer uncle Colum tells me that ye and Claire have been wed for some time now, so that would mean ye were wed before ye returned from France. But neither ye nor my cousin Jared has ever mentioned the lass in yer letters."

Jamie knew that what his father had said was a statement and didn't require an answer so he remained silent, his grip tightening on Claire's thigh. He could feel Claire trembling with doubt beside him, so he moved his hand from her thigh to wrap around her shoulders and draw her closer into his side. Brian looked at his son and new daughter in law, thinking of his next question, noticing Jamie's protective nature with the lass. "Ye wrote to Willie about Annalise, why have ye kept Claire a secret?"

Jamie closed his eyes and lowered his head for a moment to gather his thoughts. Then when he was ready he looked up and right into his father's eyes, "I have'na kept Claire a secret, but there are unusual circumstances that have led to the two of us being here, now. We promise to tell ye everything, but we would like to wait until we reach Lallybroch, so that we dinna have to explain it more than once. I ken Mam and my other siblings would like an explanation as well, so I'd like to ask ye to wait until we return home for a full explanation. For now, what I can tell ye, is that what we say is true. Claire and I did wed many years ago, and as ye told me when I was a lad of only 3 and 10, I kent as soon as I set eyes upon her that she was the one that was meant for me. I love her wi' my whole heart as she does me and we will do and have done anything and everything for one another."

Brian nodded, "Alright mo mac, I trust ye." Then he turned his attention to Claire, "Are ye goin' to tell me about yer self lass, or is that part of the story that needs to wait?"

Claire looked at Brian wide eyed then turned and looked at Jamie as if pleading for him to say something. Brian noticed that Jamie gave her a small nod and a squeeze of her shoulder. She relaxed the hands she had clenched in her lap and noticeably swallowed before she began. She looked up at Brian and gave him a tight smile, "I was born Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp in Oxford England. I think my father was a scholar, his name was Henry and he was from Oxford. My mother as much as I can remember of her was a nurse, I mean healer and she was born in Perth Scotland. Her name was Julia Moriston before she married my father. I was an only child and had quite an unorthodox upbringing."

Brian leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, and his brow furrowed, "Ye speak of yer family as if they are gone."

Claire nodded and Jamie wrapped his other arm around her, bringing her head to rest on his shoulder, "Yes, well, my parents died when I was 5 years old. I was raised by an uncle, my father's brother, and only living relative. He was an archeologist, a person who studies human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains. His profession required him to trek all over the world and he took me with him. I didn't have a formal education until I was old enough to attend university. I had tutors wherever we ended up and it was in these far and unique locations that I fell in love with the art of healing."

Brian relaxed his shoulders, "Tis good to hear that my son has fallen for an educated lass. I always thought he needed someone of equal intelligence to keep him on his toes."

Claire's expression softened as she accepted the compliment. Jamie pressed his lips to her temple, closed his eyes, and breathed her in. "I think that will suffice for now, mo nighean donn, too much more and we will have to explain everything."

Claire nodded, "Yes, I agree."

Brian watched their exchange and couldn't help but smile, not only were their minds a good match, but they treated one another as equals, just as he and Ellen did. "Claire, do ye have any of the Gáidhlig then, I noticed that Jamie has used a few words of it as he speaks to ye, but there is one that ye dinna seem to be offended by, it makes me wonder if ye ken what the lad is sayin' to ye."

Claire nodded, "Yes, I am not fluent per se, but I have picked up quite a bit in the time I have spent with Jamie. I'm sure the word you are referring to is Sassenach, and Jamie explained what it meant to me. However, I also know that he doesn't mean it the way you do or anyone else for that matter. Jamie uses the term as an endearment and I rather enjoy hearing him call me that."

Brian's eyes grew wide, "He calls ye sassenach, and ye like it, I dinna understand ye a bit."

Jamie growled and his voice came out a bit harsher than he intended, "Claire is my Sassenach, I love her Englishness, tis no' the only reason I use that word to describe her though. She is unlike any I have ever met and that is one of the things I love about her. She is my strange outlandish lass and I am the only one permitted to call her Sassenach, anyone else who does will answer to me. She kens the difference from how I say it to how other's mean it. She kens it is an insult from anyone else and I willna allow my wife to be insulted."

Brian leaned back on the log he was sitting on, "Easy, lad. I didna mean to offend Claire, I was just curious why she would allow it if she did have the Gáidhlig, and now that ye have explained it, I understand and I willna use the word to describe Claire. It warms my heart to ken that ye have secrets as thus between ye."

Claire rubbed her hand on Jamie's back, "It's alright love, I know that he was just curious. Let's move on, alright, besides it smells like the stew is done."

Jamie nodded, "Aye, yer right."

Jamie allowed Claire out of his embrace so that she could serve everyone a bit of stew. She handed everyone back their bowls, serving her and Jamie last. She walked over, handed Jamie his bowl, and took her seat beside him. She glanced over and noticed that both Brian and Robbie were looking at their stew with distaste apparent on their faces. She nudged Jamie to get his attention and he raised his eyes from his bowl to look at her, "What is it mo chridhe?"

Claire gestured with her spoon toward Brian and Robbie, "Would you please explain to your family that the watercress and berries in their soup is good for them."

Jamie's eyes followed the direction her spoon was pointing and a grin spread across his face, "Och, aye. Da, Rab, I ken yer no' used to eatin' green things, but trust me, it tastes good. Claire is a fine healer and ken's what she is doin'. She has been feedin' me such for as long as I have kent her and I have never been in better health."

Brian and Robbie exchanged a doubtful look, but so as not to offend Claire they both took a small bite. Claire watched anxiously to see what their reaction would be to this new way of eating and was delighted at their matching surprised expressions. She gave a proud nod and turned her attention back to her own stew. Jamie watched the interchange between the three of them and chuckled under his breath before he too, returned his attention to the savory stew in his hands. 

To Claire's astonishment, not only did Jamie go back for a second helping, but so did his father and brother. She giggled to herself, hoping that getting the rest of the family to convert to a healthier way of eating would be so easy. 


	11. Chapter 11

The rest of the journey toward Lallybroch was made in a peaceful silence. Brian didn't have to much to say to his son and new daughter in law that didn't have to do with things they seemed to want to keep to themselves for the time being, so he mainly stayed quiet when they would stop to make camp for the night. Jamie and Claire mainly kept to themselves, but Jamie was eager to rebuild his relationship with his family. "So, Da, what has been happening at Lallybroch since I have been away to university?"

Brian gave Jamie a strange look, "Have ye no' gotten our letters then?"

Jamie's eyes went wide, realizing that if he had truly been away at university for the past 4 years, he certainly would have been exchanging letters with his family. But unfortunately, the memories of those letters had not yet come back to him. "I'm sure that I must have, but the contents have slipped from my mind."

Brian sat forward, eyeing his son, "Are ye alright, mo mac? Ye dinna seem like yer self since ye returned."

Jamie closed his eyes and sighed, "Da, I am no' the same lad I was when I went to study in France, in fact, I have led a completely different life than what ye might have expected of me. However, I would like to get back to the relationship we had before I sailed for France, and the only way I ken to do that is to talk wi' ye."

Brian nodded and clasped his hands together in front of him, "Then tell me about this life ye have led. I ken ye said ye wished to wait until we arrived home, but I can see that it's eatin' ye up inside, it's eatin' ye both up. I willna judge ye, I give ye my word, but please mo mac, be honest wi' yer old Da."

Jamie nodded, "Alright Da, we will tell ye everything. But I must ask ye to trust what we say, some of it, no not some of it, all of it will sound like a tale that ye would tell a child at bedtime. But I assure ye that everything we are about to reveal to ye is the truth, no matter how mad it may seem."

Brian reached out to place a hand on Jamie's knee as Claire tightened her hold around his waist, "I'm listenin' son, just tell me."

Jamie looked at Claire for a brief moment as they seemed to share some silent communication then he turned back to his father. "The first bit of this is Claire's story to tell, so I will let her tell her part first."

Brian turned his attention to Claire and gave her a reassuring smile, "Go ahead a nighean, I'll no' judge either one of ye."

Claire smiled shyly and took in the expressions of both of her audience members as she began to tell her tale. "First you must know that I love Jamie with all of my heart and nothing will ever change that." She took a deep breath and leaned against Jamie, "I will tell you a bit about who I am, what I can remember anyway, and then we will get into how I met Jamie. I was born in the year 1918."

Brian's eyes went wide and Robbie's mouth dropped open. Claire cleared her throat and started again, "I was born in the year 1918 to my parents Henry and Julia whom I have already told you about. They died in a car accident, a car is a carriage that does not require horses to propel it into motion. I was raised by my uncle as I said, everything I told you before is the truth, I just left the details of when everything happened out. I was married to a man named Frank when I was 18 years old, soon after that, I joined the British Army and became a combat nurse, or what you would refer to as a healer. I was in the army, stationed in Paris from 1939 till 1945 when the war finally ended. Frank and I decided to go on holiday in Scotland to try and reconnect after being separated for 6 years. The war had changed us, we were both different people and we didn't seem to fit together anymore. The holiday was supposed to be a way to try and find what we had before the war. But Frank got wrapped up in his work, chasing down research about his ancestors. 

I became restless with nothing to do while he was busy with his research and I went to the fairy hill, Craigh Na Dun to pick some flowers that I had seen growing there. While I was there, I touched the center stone and was hurled back in time to May 1, 1743."

Brain furrowed his brow, so Claire closed her mouth to allow him time to ask his question, "Ye told me that ye have been married for several years, how is that possible, if ye arrived on May 1st, today is only the 8th of May?"

Jamie cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, "We will get to that, but nothin' we have said to ye has been a lie. I will take over the tellin' from here."

Brian nodded and turned his attention from Claire to Jamie, "Alright, mo mac, we're listenin'."

Jamie squeezed Claire's shoulder as she relaxed against him, glad to let him take over for a bit. "May 1, 1743, is the day I met Claire. I had been away in France, no' for university, but to escape the price on my head after escapin' from Fort William."

Brian furrowed his brow, "I dinna recall ye bein' in Fort William, I took ye to the docks myself just 4 years past to go to university."

Jamie shook his head, "Aye, ye did, but that was no' four years ago. I returned from university in 1739 and escaped Fort William in 1741 to return to Paris. I have just returned from my time there as a mercenary."

Brian reached out and placed a hand on Jamie's knee, "Son, ye must be confused."

Jamie shook his head, "Da, I'm no' confused."

Brian narrowed his eyes, "Aye, ye are, today is May 12, 1739."

Jamie's eyes went wide, as did Claire's and they turned and looked at each other. "Sassenach, what was the date ye remember from yer new memories that ye fell through the stones?"

Claire furrowed her brow and closed her eyes for a minute in thought, then suddenly her eyes shot open and she gasped, "May 1, 1936."

They both turned back and looked at Brian in confusion, then Jamie shook his head and continued, "That is more of what we must figure out ourselves and then tell ye, but I first must tell ye what I remember, from before."

Brian nodded, but looked at his son as if he had lost his mind, "Go ahead, I willna interrupt ye again."

Jamie relaxed his shoulders a bit, "As I was sayin' I had escaped from fort William in 1741, I was there for interferin' wi' some redcoats that were tryin' to rape Jenny. Their captain flogged me twice in the space of a week. I received 200 lashes that cut all the way to the bone, causin' lasting scars. Ye were there for the second flogging, Da and the sight of it caused ye to die from apoplexy.

After returnin' to Scotland, Dougal and his men met me at the docks and were escortin' me back and on May 1, 1743, I met Claire. I was wi' Dougal and his men in a cottage. They had carried me in there after I had fallen off my horse when redcoats were chasin' us. Murtagh pushed Claire through the door and the men all thought she was a spy for the English. Some of the men were tryin' to force my arm back, but Claire stopped them and insisted that she could do it. I knew when I laid eyes on her that I wanted her more than I had ever wanted anythin' in the world. Her strength surprised me when she was able to put my arm to rights again. 

Dougal forced her to ride wi' me and threatened to slit her throat if she tried anythin'. On our journey to Leoch, she warned us of a redcoat ambush at Cocknammon rock. She had heard about the ambushes from her first husband Frank. We made it past the ambush and back to Leoch, but I had been shot in the ambush so Claire insisted on carin' for me. That night she wept in my arms and I knew then that I was in love wi' her. But I thought she was a widow still mournin' the loss of her first husband, so I didna reveal my feelings for her.

Claire and I became close over the next few weeks, we became friends. Soon Dougal insisted that both of us accompany him to collect the MacKenzie rents and while we were out wi' the rent party a redcoat patrol spotted Claire and insisted she was to accompany them to Brockton to speak wi' their commander. While she was there she met Black Jack Randall again. When she had first fallen through the stones, he was the first person she met and he had tried to rape her. Murtagh ended up savin' her from that mad bastard and brought her to us. 

I got sidetracked there for a minute, but back to her meetin' wi' Randall at Brockton. He was interrogatin' her about her knowledge of Jacobites and if any of her fellow Scottish companions were raisin' funds for such a cause. She denied knowin' anything even though she had been witness to countless meetings where that verra thing had been happenin'. Dougal rushed in and saved her, but not before Randall got a few hits and kicks into her delicate body. Randall insisted that Dougal deliver her to Fort William three days from that day.

But Dougal had a plan, if he could turn her from an English subject into a Scot, then Randall couldna' command her to do anythin' wi'out a crime bein' committed. So Claire and I wed. It was perfect for Dougal because that took me out of Colum's line of succession. No one would accept a Laird that had an English wife. But that is no' why I agreed to wed her. I did it because I loved her and I wanted to protect her. I also didna care a fig about becomin' Laird of Leoch.

Soon we returned to Leoch but I was forced to leave her there alone. While I was gone, she was accused of bein' a witch by a jealous lass that thought I should belong to her instead of Claire. Luckily I made it back to Cranesmuire in time to save her from the pyre. After that is when she told me who she really was and where she had come from. I tried to take her back to the stones and send her back to her own time, I had no claim on her if her first husband was still out there, waitin' for her in another time. So I thought I was doin' what was right, but she refused to go, said she couldna live wi'out me. So I took her home to Lallybroch wi' me. We spent a bit of time there before I was forced to join the Black Watch in a raid. We were all arrested but I was able to escape for a time. But soon I was found and arrested again. I was taken to Wentworth and sentenced to be hanged, but at the last moment, Black Jack Randall came ridin' in and stopped the whole thing.

Claire tried to rescue me but was caught in my cell by Randall himself. He threatened to kill her, but to save her, I offered him my body. Tis what he wanted from the first and I knew it would be the only thing he would trade for her life. He tried to break me and almost did wi' the things he did to me that night. The next morning I was rescued and Claire tended to my wounds. She told me she was carryin' my bairn and we sailed to Paris to escape the price on my head.

Together we tried to stop Charles Stuart from building an army. We hired a young boy, a pic pocket to help us steal his letters. One day I had the boy wi' me to pay off one of the Prince's debts and Randall appeared, he was rapin' the boy. So I challenged him to a duel. Claire found out and came to where we were dueling, but it was too late. I had already wounded Randall, and she had lost our child. Our daughter Faith was born far too soon. I was locked in the bastille for three months while she mourned the loss of our child alone.

Finally, I was freed and we returned to Scotland, King Louis had garnered me a pardon so I no longer had a price on my head. We returned to Lallybroch to heal together, but that didna last long. After a few months, we received a letter from Jared, congratulating me on joinin' Prince Charles in his cause. Included wi' Jared's letter was a copy of a declaration of my support to Charles, he had forged my name, therefore turnin' me into a traitor once again.

I had no choice but to join him and try to win, even though Claire knew that the Jacobites would lose. Claire went wi' me and nursed the injured men, while I fought alongside my countrymen. The final battle was at Culloden Moor, just where Claire said it would be. I killed Dougal when he overheard Claire and I plotting the Prince's death to try and save the men. I sent Fergus back to Lallybroch wi' a Deed of Sasine, signing Lallybroch over to Jenny's son, James Jacob Fraser Murray. Then I took Claire back to Craigh Na Dun and sent her through the stones. After that I returned to the battlefield, ready to die.

But I didna die, I was badly wounded and the colonel sent me home. I had spared his brother's life in the early days of the war and the colonel said his family owed me a debt of honor and he couldna take my life. Jenny saved me, from sheer stubborn pigheadedness.

The next bit is gettin' harder to remember since falling through the stones myself, but I will do my best. I lived in a cave for 7 years I think it was, then spent the next 3 years in Ardsmuire prison. I was paroled to an Estate in England called Hellwater and was there for 6 years I think. After I was freed, I came back home to Lallybroch, but Jenny's bairn's didna ken me so I went to Edinburgh and became a printer. I remember missin' Claire terribly and goin' to Craigh Na Dun and touchin' the stones. That is when I found myself in the cottage wi' Dougal's men again, relivin' the same day I had lived 20 years before. Then Claire was there and thank the saints, she remembered me and our life together."

Brian shook his head, "My God, that is some tale. Where was your mother and brother's during all of this?"

Jamie's eyes went wide, "Mam died in childbed wi' Rabbie and Willie died from the pox when he was just a lad of 11 years old."

Brian gasped, "Oh, mo mac, either ye have had a verra vivid nightmare or... well there could be one other explanation, but we must speak wi' yer mother first. Claire, I ken from what Jamie has said happened during yer three years together, but what about yer time apart, after he sent ye back to yer own time?"

Claire sat up and cleared her dry throat, "Right, yes. "Well, as Jamie said, I will try my best to remember since falling through the stones again has caused some kind of temporal paradox. But after I returned Frank took me back. He made me promise never to speak of Jamie, to never tell my child that Frank was not her father. It was not a good marriage when I returned, we no longer loved each other, we didn't even like each other. But we remained married for Brianna's sake. That is what I named mine and Jamie's daughter, I named her after you, Brian, just as I promised Jamie I would. 

I went to medical school to try and busy myself. When I had nothing to do, I thought about Jamie and the life we had lost and became depressed and sad with longing for the life that was stolen from us. I became a surgeon and spent most of my time healing people so I wouldn't have to face my memories. Eventually, I found proof that Jamie had survived Culloden and I made plans to return to him. I went to the stones, prepared to go to Edinburgh to find him, but when I touched the stones, I was hurled back to the first day we met, or what I assumed was the first day we met. But now you tell us that I arrived 4 years sooner than I had the first time."

Brian furrowed his brow, "From what ye say and what ye realized about the date when Jamie asked ye the date ye had traveled, I think I ken what has happened. Ye have indeed experienced a temporal paradox or a better explanation would be ye have'na only been thrown back in time, but ye have been thrown into an alternate reality. One in which events that ye remember from yer past have no longer happened and if I am right in my assumptions, yer memories will slowly fade, to be replaced wi' the memories of this reality. Of course, I am no' an expert on the subject, ye must speak wi' Ellen to be sure. However, now the closeness of the two of ye makes sense to me. In yer minds, ye have been wed for the past 23 years, even though neither of ye is even old enough to claim such a thing. If my calculations are correct, then that means, Claire that ye are just 17 years old and Jamie is 18. Also, from what ye have said, ye are no' married in this time, at least no' yet. Claire, that makes me responsible for ye, lass."

Jamie made a sound in his throat so Brian turned his attention to him, "What is it, son?"

Jamie sat taller, "We are wed, we were handfasted last night so that I could protect Claire. Besides, as ye said, in our minds we have been wed for 23 years, I'll no' allow ye to separate us."

Brian waved his hand in the air, "Dinna fash over that, I dinna intend to separate ye, but we need to plan a proper wedding when we return home. We should be there day after next if the weather holds."


	12. Chapter 12

Murtagh had caught up with the group the morning after the revelation and with his presence, the tension that had arisen during their first encounter with Brian at Castle Leoch had dissipated considerably since Jamie and Claire had revealed the truth. 

With no more secrets between them, the five of them chatted amicably and got to know each other a little better. As would be expected, everyone had questions and they all tried to answer in the simplest way possible. Jamie learned that his baby brother Robbie was far younger than he looked at only 8 years old and Claire wondered if Jamie had been a similar size at that age.

At night when they would stop to rest, Claire would entertain everyone with stories from her childhood. During the day they rode close enough to the others that Jamie was able to share the stories of their time in Paris and the lengths at which they had gone to in an attempt to quash the rebellion before it could get started.

Before long, Brian again began to feel the bond he had shared with his son before sending him to Paris, as well as a deep fondness for Claire and had begun to refer to her as mo nighean which Jamie told her meant my daughter.

Just as Brian had predicted, they crested the ridge overlooking Lallybroch two days later. 

Even with the newfound and blossoming relationship among the five of them, Jamie and Claire found they still had a bit of trepidation as they stared down at Lallybroch and what awaited them there.

Brian looked over at the pair of them, grateful they were finally home. "Dinna fash, mo mac. The family is eager to see ye, and ye can be sure that I will make certain that they all listen before passing judgment on either of ye. However, I do think it's best if ye speak wi' yer mother first. Ye both need to have a clearer understanding of what has happened to ye before ye try and explain it to the rest of the family."

Jamie relaxed visibly and pressed a kiss to Claire's shoulder. "Are ye ready, Sassenach?"

Claire took a deep breath and nodded, "Je suis pret."

Brian chuckled at her response and kicked his horse in the flanks to move down the hill and lead his family home. Robbie fell in line driving the cart behind his father with Murtagh riding behind him and Jamie and Claire bringing up the rear. As they got closer the dogs began to bark and Brian pulled their small caravan to a halt. Everyone dismounted except for Robbie and led the horses the rest of the way. A pair of stable boys that neither Jamie nor Claire had seen before came running out of the stables to take the horses from them. Jamie, Claire, and Murtagh joined Brian at the front as Robbie drove the wagon into the dooryard.

Their arrival was already so much different than the first time they had come to Lallybroch and Jamie almost fainted when he looked up to see his mother standing on the steps in front of the house. Claire held her arm tight around his waist to stabilize him until he could regain his balance. "Are you alright my love?"

Jamie nodded and gestured with his chin for Claire to look toward the house. A small gasp escaped her when she took in the regal woman standing before her, and then it was Jamie's turn to support her. "Sassenach, what's wrong?"

Claire shook her head, "She looks exactly like Brianna, our daughter, well all but the eyes, Brianna has your eyes, Jamie."

Jamie tore his worried gaze away from his wife to take in the sight of his mother again and all of a sudden tears came unbidden to his eyes. He took a deep breath and prepared himself to see the woman that up until that point had only lived in his memories. He tightened his arm around Claire's shoulder and slowly led her closer to meet his mother. As they approached, Ellen made her way down the steps and all but ran to Jamie. 

Claire stepped out of his embrace just in time to allow Jamie to catch his mother as she threw her arms around his neck, "Oh mo mac, tis been too long. I have missed ye so my dear, lad."

Jamie buried his nose in his mother's hair as he wrapped his arms tightly around her, afraid that if he let go, that she would disappear. Ellen pulled back from him and noticed the tears staining his cheeks and her expression suddenly turned to one of worry, "What is it, Seamus, what's wrong?"

Jamie shook his head as he released his mother and wiped the tears from his face. He looked down at her with the most brilliant smile, "No' a thing, I have just missed ye so much."

Ellen squeezed his shoulders, "As we have, you mo mac, but tell me, who is this lovely lass that ye bring wi' ye?"

Jamie stepped away from his mother and held his hand out to Claire, who immediately snuggled into his side and wrapped her arms around his waist, "This is Claire, my wife."

Ellen's eyes betrayed her but only for a moment, "Welcome to the family, Claire, come inside, I'm sure ye wish to wash and ye must be famished after so long on the road."

Claire looked up at Jamie, a worried expression on her face, which Ellen didn't miss, "Not to worry lass, Jamie will be comin' along soon. He just needs to help his father get the trunk out of the wagon and bring it up to yer bed chamber."

Claire reluctantly let go of Jamie and let Ellen lead her in the house and up the stairs to a room she had never been in before. Ellen opened the door and walked over to pull the curtains back from the small window at the back of the room. "Thank you, Mrs. Fraser, this room is lovely."

Ellen's eyes went wide, then she quickly schooled her features before Claire noticed her surprise, "Where are ye from, lass, I'm certain I hear an English accent?"

Claire nodded, "Yes, you are correct, I'm originally from Oxfordshire, but I grew up all over the world."

Ellen nodded and walked over to have a seat on the foot of the bed, "How did ye meet my Jamie?"

Claire sighed, "Well, that's a rather long story and I would rather wait for Jamie before I say anything. We have already told Brian, but he believes that you will help us to understand everything."

Ellen furrowed her brow, "I'm no' sure what ye mean, but I'm willin' to listen and help ye in any way that I can."

Claire walked over and sat on the bed next to Ellen, "Thank you. I just hope that after you hear what we have to say that you will still be so accepting of me, well accepting of mine and Jamie's relationship."

Before Ellen could reply, a loud grunt and some thumping could be heard coming up the stairs. They watched the doorway and waited, a moment later Jamie stepped in and dropped their heavy case on the floor next to the door. Then he turned and looked at the pair of women sitting on the bed, "What in holy hell did ye put in there, Sassenach, rocks?"

Claire began to giggle but quickly silenced at Ellen's admonishing tone, "James Fraser, dinna talk to yer wife like that."

Jamie furrowed his brow in bewilderment as he looked from his angry mother to his wife that was fit to burst with suppressed mirth, "Like what? Did I say something wrong?"

Ellen's eyes went wide, as she stood up and stood toe to toe with her son and pointed at Claire, "James, apologize to Claire, right this instant."

Jamie's frowned deepened as he looked from his mother to his wife, "Sassenach, did I say something wrong, I'm confused?"

Ellen gasped and clenched her teeth to prepare for a fight, but Claire's voice stopped her before she could utter another word to her son, "Jamie, I think she was referring to you calling me Sassenach."

Jamie's eyes widened as he realized how his mother had interpreted his nickname for Claire. He raised his hands up in surrender and took a step back from his mother and extended his hand toward Claire. "Claire, mo ghráidh, could ye please explain it to her, I can tell she is seeing red and likely nothin' I say is going to convince her."

Claire gave Jamie an apologetic smile and nodded, "Of course my love." She took a step between them in order to protect Jamie from his mother's wrath and reached up tentatively to place her hands on Ellen's shoulders. "Mrs. Fraser, please look at me." Claire waited for Ellen to tear her fiery gaze away from her son and settle her yes on Claire's face. "Jamie calls me Sassenach and I'm fine with it, from him, but not from anyone else. I do know what the word means and from anyone, besides Jamie, it would be offensive, but Jamie doesn't mean it like that. He uses the word Sassenach as an endearment since I am different from anyone he has ever known. I actually love it when he calls me that or any of the other Gáidhlig endearments he chooses to use when speaking to me. It's alright, truly, please don't be angry with him, because I'm not."

Ellen took a step back, her brow furrowed, "Ye like it?"

Claire tried unsuccessfully to repress her smile as she nodded, "Yes, quite."

Ellen shook her head, "I'll never understand the both of ye, will I?"

Claire chuckled, "Probably not, but if you have some time now, I think we should talk about how Jamie and I met, perhaps in Brian's study?"

Ellen nodded, "Aye, after ye have a bite to eat, but first I'll have Mrs. Crook bring some water up for the both of ye to wash."

As Ellen moved past Claire to leave the room, Jamie stepped back, afraid she might still reach out and strike him. But Ellen just walked past, closing the door behind her. As soon as the door clicked shut, Jamie and Claire burst out into giggles. "Oh, God, I thought she was going to tear your ballocks off, you had no idea what you had done. Your face was priceless and I absolutely loved seeing a new expression on yer face after all these years."

Jamie pulled her against him and rolled his eyes, "Yer right, I didna ken what she was on about. I thought perhaps she was angry because I was teasin' ye for how heavy the trunk is."

Claire smiled at him and pulled his head down for a kiss, "At least now I know where Brianna got her fierce temper. It was strange, seeing someone that looked like our daughter chastising you."

Claire shook her head to clear the ridiculous image from her mind, "We better wash and go down to eat. I'm ready to get this whole confession business behind us and begin planning our wedding."


	13. Chapter 13

After a quick wash and filling their bellies, Jamie and Claire joined his parents in Brian's study. Brian poured everyone a dram of whisky, knowing that it would be appreciated soon enough. Everyone took a seat and Ellen looked between the other three in confusion, "Is someone going to tell me what this is all about?"

Jamie nodded, "Aye, I suppose it's a bit difficult to find the right words."

Claire sighed, "Or to know where exactly to start."

Ellen smiled and reached a hand out to place over Claire's, "The beginning is always a good place. But I see that ye both have books, might I ask why?"

Jamie and Claire both looked down at the journals they held in their laps. "We have written journals so that we dinna forget our memories."

Ellen frowned, "Why would ye forget yer memories?"

Claire took a deep breath, "I think we need to tell you everything so that you understand why we forget our memories. We both read through them before we came down to eat so that we could refresh our memories and not forget anything when we tell you our story."

Ellen looked at Brian who gave her a nod to listen to them, then she returned her gaze to Jamie and Claire, "Alright, I'm listening."

Claire cleared her throat, "I suppose I should begin since this all started with me. I will tell everything as I remember it, but I might need to reference my journal from time to time. It's not because I am making any of this up, but because my memories are fading and being replaced."

Ellen's eyes went wide and she gasped, "The stone of destiny!"

Jamie furrowed his brow, "What was that, mam?"

She shook her head, "Nevermind, mo mac. I will tell ye in a bit, but first I must hear yer tale."

Jamie squeezed Claire's hand so she continued, "Well, it sounds like you might have a bit of understanding about what we are about to tell you, so here it goes. I was born in the year 1918, my parents died in a car accident when I was only 5 years old and from then on I was raised by my Uncle Lamb, who I affectionately called Lamb."

Ellen placed her hand on Claire's knee and squeezed, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but did ye say yer parents died in a car accident?"

Claire nodded, "Yes, I'm sorry, I will try and remember to explain things as I go."

Ellen shook her head, "Is a car no' a horseless carriage that is propelled by something referred to as a motor?"

Claire's eyes went wide, "Yes, but how could you know that?"

Ellen smirked, "Dinna worry about that now, I will explain where I have gained my knowledge once ye finish tellin' me yer tale. Please continue, I willna interrupt ye again."

Claire shook her head, to try and push the thought that Ellen knew about the future to the back of her mind. "As I was saying, Lamb raised me but I didn't obtain a formal education. You see, Lamb was an archeologist, a person who studies artifacts to learn about the ancient people who used them. Due to his unusual line of work, he traveled all over the world and he took me with him. I had tutors who taught me all the typical things a child would learn in school, but I also met a variety of different people in our travels and was especially drawn to those who practiced medicine. Traveling the world as a child is what led me to become a healer. I'm sorry I need to take a peek in my journal, this is where things get a bit hazy for me."

Ellen nodded, "Take yer time a nighean, we are no' goin' anywhere."

Claire smiled and looked down at her journal, reading over the passage about her first marriage. "Right, I married my first husband Frank and soon after that, I joined the British Army. There was a World War going on, the second one actually and I wanted to do what I could to help, so I became a combat nurse. I was separated from Frank for 6 years with only a few phone calls and meetings in the time. The war had changed us, so when it ended in 1945 we took a holiday to Scotland to try and reconnect. But Frank was more interested in history than spending time with me, so I occupied my time with my own interests. I had gone to Craigh Na Dun to pick a flower I had seen there. But when I was there, I touched the tallest stone and was hurled back in time to the year 1743."

Ellen frowned, but Claire continued. "I arrived on May 1, 1743, and that is the day I met Jamie. But he is not the first person I met, first I encounter Black Jack Randall, an ancestor of my husband Frank. The meeting was not pleasant as he attempted to rape me, but thankfully I was rescued by Murtagh. I didn't understand what had happened to me at that time so I fought against him as well, so Murtagh knocked me on the head so I would stop fighting.

He took me to a cottage where Dougal and his men were hiding from the redcoats, that's where I met Jamie. He had fallen off of his horse and dislocated his shoulder and I fixed it for him. On the ride back to Leoch, we ran into a British ambush at Cocknammon Rock and Jamie got shot in the shoulder. I tended him the best I could on the road and with no medical supplies but his injury bothered me. So when we finally arrived at Leoch, I told Mrs. Fitz as much and she showed us to a room where I could care for the gunshot wound properly.

That is when I saw the scars on Jamie's back from the 200 lashings Randall had laid down with the cat of nine tails."

Jamie squeezed her hand, "I think I should explain that before ye go any further, mo chridhe."

Claire nodded "Yes, you are quite right."

Jamie looked at his mother, "After I returned from Paris I was workin' in the fields. Da had gone to a friend's funeral and it was just Jenny and me at home. Willie had died when I was only 8 years old and Mam, ye died in childbed along wi' Rabbie just 2 years later. So after that, it was just me, Jenny and Da left. But that day I was in the fields I heard screamin' so I ran back to the house and there were redcoats trying to harm Jenny, pullin' at her clothes and such. I knew what they were on about, so I roughed them up a bit, but before I could finish, Captain Randall came out of the house and grabbed a hold of Jenny, tearin' her dress wide open. He had me tied to the loops on the arch and whipped me wi' his crop, threatenin' Jenny that he would harm me if she didna go wi' him. 

He hit me wi' the hilt of his short sword and knocked me out, when I woke up, I was trussed up in the back of a wagon and bein' hauled to Fort William. They laid down a hundred lashes, said it was for obstruction, then I tried to escape and they laid down a hundred more. Da was present for the second lashing and he thought Randall had killed me when I passed out halfway through. Da died of apoplexy right there at Fort William. Dougal and his men helped me to escape Fort William. 

I was badly wounded so Dougal and his men sent me to France to the abbey so that I could heal, but no' before Dougal tried to kill me wi' an ax to the back of the head. I didna ken it was him at the time, but I found out later. After I was healed enough I became a mercenary and fought in my first war. Four years later, in 1743 I sailed back to Scotland where Murtagh met me, and Dougal and his men showed up to take me to Leoch. While we were on our way to Leoch is when I met Claire. Dougal and his men suspected her of bein' a spy, but I knew right from the start that she wasna. The lass canna tell a lie to save her life, never could."

Claire giggled, "No and they didn't seem to believe the story I made up about being robbed by highwaymen, so that only encouraged them to have me followed. Jamie and I became quite close rather quickly. I told myself that I was just caring for my patient, but the truth was, that I was drawn to him. I couldn't explain why at first, but it didn't take long for me to figure it out. Eventually, Dougal requested that I accompany him and his men with the rent party, he said having an experienced healer along would be handy.

So I went along and all the while I was trying to find a way back to Craigh Na Dun, so I could return to my own time. But one thing led to another and Dougal arranged for Jamie and me to be married. I thought Jamie agreed to in only to protect me from Black Jack Randall, but I later found out it was because he loved me. I loved him by then, but I was still trying to deny it to myself. When we returned to the castle, people accepted me more, well all but one person. She accused me of being a witch and tried to have me killed but luckily Jamie arrived in time to save me. That is when I told him the truth about me and his first instinct was to take me back to the fairy hill.

He gave me the choice and I chose to stay here with him, rather than return to my own time. That is the day that I admitted to myself that I love him. After I chose Jamie, we came to Lallybroch to begin our lives as Laird and Lady Broch Tuarach, but it didn't last long. Jamie had a price on his head for murder."

Ellen's eyes went round so Jamie stepped in, "I didna kill the man that I was accused of murderin'. When Dougal rescued me from Fort William, one of the officers was shot by Black Jack himself, but he put the blame on me so he would have a reason to hunt me down."

Claire nodded, "Right, and after we returned to Lallybroch and Jamie introduced me to all the tenants at a quarter day, we only had a few days of peace. Soon after that, the Black Watch showed up and one of the men Blackmailed Jamie, so Ian killed him. The leader of the watch, Tarran MacQuarrie convinced Jamie that it was in his best interest to accompany him on a raid of one of the nearby clans to steal their rents. Jamie had no choice but to go with them, but when he did, they found out it was a setup and most of the men were killed. Only two were arrested, Tarran and Jamie. Luckily Jamie escaped from the Redcoats, and Murtagh and I rode all over Scotland in search of him.

Murtagh convinced me to dress like a man and sing a bawdy song to let Jamie know where we were so he could return to us. But our performance led to his arrest and he was taken to Wentworth prison and sentenced to hang. However before the sentence could be carried out, Black Jack rode in and stopped the execution. 

I broke into the prison and tried to rescue Jamie, but Randall caught me and threatened my life, so Jamie gave him what he wanted in exchange for my life. Randall raped and beat Jamie to within an inch of his life and by the time we rescued Jamie from Wentworth, he was begging to die. We took him to an abbey where I fixed 9 broken bones in his right hand and fought to heal his soul. We had nowhere we could go in Scotland and be safe from Randall, so we sailed to France, and on the journey there, I told Jamie that I was pregnant.

Since I'm from the future, that means I also knew what laid in store for Scotland and her people and that future was bleak. Charles Stuart would lead a rebellion that would culminate on April 16, 1746, on Culloden Moor, where over 1500 Scots would lose their lives and it would signal the end of the highland way of life. I got it in my head that Jamie and I could try and stop it all from happening. Charles was in France at the time when we arrived and I suggested that Jamie get close to him and learn his secrets so that we could thwart his plans. Jamie hired a young boy to steal letters from Charles and we eventually learned who his financiers were. We did everything we could to stop the rebellion from coming and in the process, I lost our child a daughter that Mother Hildegarde christened as Faith Fraser.

We returned to Scotland to heal and we found that we could be whole again when we came home to Lallybroch, but our peace didn't last. Charles Stuart forged Jamie's name and made him a traitor to the crown again. Jamie had no choice but to fight for Charles, so we both went with the army. It came down to the last battle at Culloden and I told Jamie we had only one option left and that was to kill Charles. Dougal overheard our discussion and threatened to kill me, so Jamie protected me and in turn killed Dougal."

Jamie nodded, "Aye, that is when he admitted to trying to kill me wi' the ax. Tis also when I decided that the only way to save Claire and the child I knew she carried was to take her back to Craigh Na Dun and send her back to her own time. After I watched her disappear, I returned to the Moor and fought my way across the field wi'out even a scratch, then turned and fought my way back to our side. In the end, I killed Randall, but no' before he cut me deep enough that it should have killed me. By some odd stroke of luck, I survived long enough for Rupert to find me and carry me to a small barn. There were several Jacobites there, mostly wounded who couldna walk. Eventually, though the British found us and began shooting the men one by one. My life was spared due to a debt of honor I incurred at the beginning of the war when I let a young boy live. He was the brother of the soldier who was carrying out orders to execute all Jacobites. The boy's brother sent me home to Lallybroch, where Jenny wouldna allow me to die.

I lived for 7 long years up in the cave that Ian and I found when we were just bairns, then I had a tenant turn me in for the reward. I thought it would help Jenny, Ian and the bairns, everyone was starvin' and I had to do somethin' So I was arrested and taken to Ardsmuire prison. I was there for three years until the prison finally closed down, then I was paroled to a place called Hellwater in England for the next 6 years. When I finally returned home, Jenny's bairns didna ken who I was, I was home but I was a ghost. After another 2 years passed, Jenny convinced me to remarry, but I wasna happy and I left to move to Edinburgh where I started printin' seditious pamphlets and smuggling whisky. 

One day after 20 years apart I was missing Claire so much that it hurt, so I rode to Craigh Na Dun to feel close to her. I pressed my hands on the stones and the next thing I knew, I was waking up on the day I first met her. Well, I thought it was that day until I found out from Da that it is only 1739, 4 years sooner than when we first met."

Ellen looked at Claire, what happened to ye after he sent ye back through the stones?"

Claire took a breath and told the rest of her story, "Jamie sent me back because I still had my first husband in my time and he did take me back when I returned. But he made me promise never to tell my child about her real father. Frank wanted her to believe that he was her father and he was a good parent to her. I went to school and became a surgeon because I couldn't stand to be around Frank, we only stayed married out of obligation to Brianna, mine, and Jamie's daughter. But when she was 18, Frank died in a car accident. Soon after that, I took her on a holiday to London. While we were there, we heard the news that one of Frank's oldest friends had died. So Brianna and I went to Scotland to pay our respects. While there, I found out that Jamie had not died at Culloden and I spent months trying to find him in the history books. 

I found the story of the dunbonnet living in the cave and knew it was Jamie. Then I found him on the muster roll of Ardsmuire Prison until it closed. But then I lost his trail and all but gave up being able to find him. I thought perhaps he had died at the prison. So Brianna and I returned to our life in Boston. Then during Christmas the young historian who had helped me to find Jamie at Ardsmuire brought news. He had found an old newspaper with a quote that wouldn't be written for another 20 years or so after the newspaper had been printed. And the best part, the reason I knew it was Jamie, was because the printer's name was Alexander Malcolm. Together with the quote, I just knew it had to be him. So I spent the next year preparing to come back to Jamie and studying everything I could get my hands on about Scottish history so that I would be more prepared when I returned.

When I was ready, I flew back to Scotland and went to Craigh Na Dun. I pressed my hands on the stone and woke up in the same dress I had been wearing the first time I fell through the stones and like Jamie, I thought it was 1743 again."

Ellen shook her head, "Tis just as I thought."

Jamie and Claire looked at one another in confusion, then back at Ellen, "What is just as ye thought Mam?"

Ellen reached out and took each of their hands, "The two of ye are soulmates and ye must have touched the stone at Craigh Na Dun at precisely the same time. Tis why the auld ones call it the stone of destiny. If two halves of one soul, touch the stone on two sides of time at the exact precise moment as one another, the stone will set yer destinies right. Yer pasts will be erased and replaced wi' how yer lives should have been in the first place if only a few things had happened differently. The memories that are becoming stronger are the way yer lives should have gone, but somewhere in time, a wrinkle occurred and everything was thrown off balance. When ye touched the stone of destiny, everything was set right again. Aye, ye woke up in familiar places, but yer destiny was reset to the time where it had veered off course. Claire, what time did ye travel from in yer new memory?"

Claire blushed, "Originally I traveled from 1945, but in my new memory, I traveled from May 1936, that is 9 years sooner than last time."

Ellen nodded, "When did ye marry yer first husband in yer original memories?"

Claire chuckled, "In 1937."

Ellen smiled and patted her knee, "When did ye meet him?"

Claire furrowed her brow, "In the fall of 1936."

Ellen nodded, "Aye, that is where yer life was thrown off course. Jamie's was thrown off course when Willie died. These are the moments where yer memories changed, are they no'?"

Jamie and Claire exchanged a look then nodded, "Yes, it would seem so. But that doesn't explain why I came back to 1739 instead of 1743 like I did before."

Ellen nodded, "Aye, it does. Jamie was about to face another event that could derail his life course, but wi' ye here, that event willna happen."

Claire shook her head, "Jamie didn't meet Randall until 1741."

Ellen smiled, "Aye, that is no' the event I speak of. Jamie wrote us just a month past of a lass who caught his eye, Annalise. He planned to fight a duel for her honor next month before returning home to Scotland. He is home a whole month earlier than we expected him to be and I bet that he didna fight that duel."

Jamie frowned and shook his head, "I remember writing the letter, but I had no' gotten up the courage to even speak to the lass yet."

Claire rolled her eyes at the mention of Annalise and sighed, "Alright well I don't have any other explanation for any of this. But I am curious how you know about all of this and especially how you know what a car is."

Ellen chuckled, "My uncle's second wife, traveled through the stones from 1896 and she used to tell me stories from her time. But I always thought they were just mere tales to entertain children. As for the rest, the stories of the stone of destiny have been passed down through the years for generations."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I watched a documentary on the stone of destiny, it has nothing to do with how I describe it in my story, but I liked the name and it fits with where my story is going.


	14. Chapter 14

After Claire and Jamie's big revelation Ellen and Brian invited the rest of the family to join them so that Ellen could give them a synopsis of what the couple had revealed to her. To the surprise of both Claire and Jamie, everyone was accepting of what had been revealed since they were all highlanders, born and raised, steeped in tradition and with the superstitions of their ancestors. It was a surprise to both Willie and Jenny that Jamie and Claire had lived through a version of their lives where Ellen, Willie, and Rabbie had all died early in Jamie's childhood. However, everyone was grateful that the previous timeline had not repeated itself with the presence of Black Jack Randall being absent from their lives. 

Claire grimaced at their relief, "Randall might still be a problem, he was the first person I ran into when I came back through the stones. If I had been of my right mind, I would have killed him right then. Unfortunately, though, I was still in shock at the realization that I had come back to the day I first met Jamie."

Brian walked over and placed a hand on each of her shoulders as she looked up at him, "Dinna fret, lass. Yer family now and we will protect ye and the easiest way to do that is for ye and Jamie to wed as soon as possible."

Claire rolled her eyes and sighed in frustration, "Not again."

Brain let his hands drop from her shoulders and furrowed his brow, as did everyone else in the room, save Jamie. He knew why she was frustrated as she looked around the room and realized how what she had just said had been taken by his family. "Oh, no, don't get me wrong. I want nothing more than to marry Jamie, but to have Randall be the reason for it again, it just doesn't sit right with me."

Jamie stepped closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, drawing her close to his side, "He isna the reason we will be wed, mo ghráidh, we will do that for love. But he will be the reason for which we canna wait."

Claire melted against his side, "I didn't want to wait anyway, but I certainly didn't want to rush things now that you have a whole family I need to win over."

Everyone barked out a laugh at that, but Willie was the one to speak up, "Dinna fash, Claire. We can all see the love between ye and Jamie here. As soon as we heard yer story and all the tragedies that ye have both had to endure, we accepted ye as part of the family. Besides, Da says that ye and Jamie are already handfasted, so it wouldna matter what our opinions were anyway."

Jenny walked over and clasped Claire's hand, "If ye would permit me, sister, I would love to help Mam, to make yer wedding dress. I ken ye dinna wish to rush it, but even wi' only three weeks to plan, we can make it special for the both of ye."

Claire looked up at Jamie then back at Jenny with a watery smile, "I would be most grateful to you, Jenny. We became quite close, like sisters even, in our previous timeline and it is my hope that we can form that bond again."

Jenny squeezed Claire's hands, "That is my hope as well. I can see yer a strong, smart lass, the perfect match for our Jamie."

Jamie leaned over and pressed a kiss to her temple, "If ye dinna mind, it has been a long journey and I would like to take my wife up to get a bit of rest before supper tonight."

Ellen stood up and walked over, pulling Claire into a motherly embrace, then releasing her and hugging Jamie as well, "Go on wi' yer selves, I'll send someone up to fetch ye both down to supper."

As the couple left the room, the rest of the family settled back into their seats around Brian's study. Brian sat on the edge of his desk as he faced his family, "Tis our duty to protect Claire as her new family. Willie, I want ye to ride into Broch Mordha in the morning and tell the priest of the impending wedding. We will need to have the banns read over the next three weeks. Ye can also tell Mary that she will be expected to help wi' the wedding preparations. She has a good hand wi' a needle and it will take all of the women to have Claire's dress ready in time for the wedding."

Willie nodded, "Aye Da, I ken she will be excited to have a bit of time away from wee Brian. He has started cutting his first teeth and she is at her wit's end wi' his constant fussing as of late."

Brian nodded, "Tell Mary that she may wish to consult Claire about that. Jamie says she is quite a skilled healer and she may have a trick to help the bairn wi' his pain. I mean to give the two of them some time to settle into life here and come to terms wi' what has happened to them. Both of their minds are in a state of confusion just now since their original memories are fading and being replaced wi' new memories from this timeline. We must be patient wi' both of them until the memories from this life are more clear to them."

Ellen nodded and took over, looking at each of her children, remaining in the room, "Traveling through the Stone of Destiny takes a lot out of a body, the two of them are going to need plenty of rest, so we willna expect them to begin helpin' wi' the chores for at least couple of weeks. They may feel up to it sooner, so dinna refuse any help they offer, but they are likely to spend most of their time in their room."

Everyone nodded in understanding and Jenny stood up, wiping her hands on her apron, "I'll talk wi' Claire on the morrow and find out what she wishes for a wedding."

Brian patted his daughter on the shoulder, "That's a good lass. I'll send a message to the tenants, announcing the wedding. I will talk wi' Jamie after supper and find out if they have a specific date in mind. They may wish to have the same date as in their previous life, it might mean more to them to hold it on the same day."

After supper, it was settled that Jamie and Claire would be wed on June 8th, the same date as their original wedding. They were both grateful to Brian for asking their opinions on the matter.

* * *

The morning after they arrived Jenny knocked on Jamie's door, "I ken that ye two are probably still knackered, but ye must come down for breakfast."

Jamie climbed out of bed, pulled his shirt on over his head and ambled over to open the door, "Aye, thank ye, Jenny, I'll wake Claire and we will be down soon."

Jenny smiled at her brother, noting how tired he looked then turned and left him to dress. Jamie closed the door and crawled back onto the bed whispering in Claire's ear, "Wake up mo ghráidh, tis time for breakfast."

Claire groaned, "I don't want to wake up, I'm not hungry."

Jamie shook his head with a smirk and leaned over, pulling the quilt down off her body and following it with kisses on each new inch of exposed skin. Claire rolled over to face him, a sleepy smile on her face, "Well, a girl could get used to being woken up like that. Are you certain that you want to go down to breakfast, I think I might have something to offer you that is a bit more in line with your appetite."

Jamie grinned, "Aye, perhaps later, mo chridhe, Lord kens that I canna get enough of that bonny body of yers. But if I dinna eat now, my wame will be complainin' before we're finished. Come, I have a feelin' that Jenny also has plans for ye today."

Claire furrowed her brow, "I'm too tired to do anything today, Jamie. Can't we just stay in bed?"

Jamie shook his head as he climbed back off the bed and pulled a clean pair of breeks and a new shirt from the wardrobe, "Nah, ye ken that we canna. Besides, I ken once ye get up and get movin' that ye will feel much better."

Claire rolled her eyes and groaned as she threw her legs over the side of the bed and strolled naked across their room to get some clothes from their trunk. Jamie admired her slender body as she moved gracefully across the room, "Ye ken, now that I know that ye are nine years younger than when I first saw ye, I can see it when I look at ye. Everything about ye does appear a bit younger, more innocent."

Claire rolled her eyes, quirked her brow and turned to look at him, "Look who's talking, you look younger as well. You have more of a boyish face, even more so than you did when I first met you. Not to mention that your body is unmarked from Randall's atrocities. Between the two of us, I'm willing to bet it is you that has changed the most."

Jamie walked over and wrapped his arms around her after her shift fell down over her body and he pulled her over to the full length mirror. She leaned her head back on his shoulder and they both looked at their much younger reflection, "I imagine that we both look quite a bit younger than we last remember ourselves. But I have to say, that I am no' complainin' one bit, knowin' that I am the only man to have this body, the only man that ever will."

Claire grinned and rolled her eyes, "And I am the only woman to have this body, I won't allow anyone else to ever have you."

Jamie chuckled and placed a kiss at her temple, "Finish gettin' dressed mo ghráidh, the family will be waitin' for us and Willie is supposed to be bringin' his wife and bairn for us to meet."

Claire wrapped her corset around her torso and nodded in agreement, "Yes and Jenny said that Ian would be coming as well."

The two finished dressing and made their way downstairs. When they entered the dining hall they stopped in their tracks, unsure where they were expected to sit. Ian got up from his seat next to Jenny and walked around the table to greet them. He pulled Jamie into a bone crushing hug, "Jamie, tis good to see ye, tis been far too long."

Jamie grinned and pounded his best friend on the back, "Tis good to see ye too, Ian. Let me introduce ye to my wife, Ian this is Claire."

Ian took Claire's hand and bowed over it, "Tis good to meet ye, Claire, welcome to the family."

Claire quirked her eye at Ian but didn't dare say a word about his choice of phrasing. Ian gestured to two seats next to him and Jamie led Claire around the table to pull out her seat for her. As they rounded the table behind Ian, Claire noticed that he wasn't limping. She briefly wondered if he had never gone to France and become a mercenary, then she reminded her self that he wouldn't have left to do that yet. She would mention it to Jamie and hopefully, they could prevent Ian from leaving and needlessly losing his leg. 

As Jamie pushed Claire's seat in, she looked up at Willie then over to the woman sitting next to him. She furrowed her brow in thought, certain that she recognized the woman, but couldn't place her. As Jamie sat down next to her, she leaned over to whisper to him, "Jamie, Willie's wife, he said her name was Mary, where do I know her from?"

Jamie looked up at Willie's wife and his eyes went wide. He quirked his brow in recognition of the woman, then leaned over to whisper to Claire, "She was Mary MacNab when ye knew her. It appears as though since Willie didna die, she chose him instead of Ronald MacNab."

Claire nodded in recognition of the name, "Aww, yes, I remember now. Her son Rabbie was the stable boy."

Jamie nodded, "Aye, he was, now her son is wee Brian Fraser, our nephew."

Claire smiled at the thought of a new nephew to play with and having the chance to be there when wee Jamie is born. Brian's voice interrupted her thoughts as he began to pray and she quickly lowered her head to pray with the rest of the family. When he was finished, the breakfast food was passed around the table and everyone selected foods to place on their plates. As soon as everyone had a chance to serve themselves, Willie addressed the room, "Claire, I would like to introduce ye to my wife Mary. Sawny, I'm sure ye remember Mary, we were courtin' before ye left for University in France."

Jamie nodded the memories were there, but not entirely clear yet. Claire smiled at Mary, "Nice to meet you, Mary, I hear you have a son who is teething and that is why you were unable to make it to supper last night."

Mary nodded, "Aye, he has been fussing at all hours since he began cuttin' teeth. Willie says that I should ask if perhaps ye have a way to help ease the wean's pain."

Claire nodded as she swallowed her bite of eggs, "Yes, actually. You can rub a bit of whisky on his gums, that will work to numb his gums to the pain."

Mary sighed, "Aye, we have tried that, but it doesna seem to work."

Claire smiled thoughtfully, "It's a bit late in the year to be able to find ice, but you could put a clean wet rag outside at night so that it gets cold and then let wee Brian chew and suck on it. The night air will help to chill the rag a bit and you can put out several at a time so that when one gets warm, you can simply trade it out. You can rub a cold spoon over his tender gums, but that is a temporary relief and will only last as long as the spoon is in his mouth. If you can find a big enough chunk of amber that he can't put completely into his mouth, the natural oils in the amber are used to ease pain and inflammation and will release as he chews it. If he hasn't begun to bite, you can nurse him to soothe his gums as well."

Mary smiled gratefully at Claire, "Thank ye, that's quite a number of suggestions that I can try. I am sure that at least one of them will work for our wee lad."

Jamie smiled with pride and squeezed Claire's thigh below the table, "Claire is a fine healer, tis how we first met. She put my shoulder back in joint on the day we met, then mended a bullet wound the next day."

Claire blushed with humility, "I don't like to brag, but for the sake of all of your health, I would ask that you come to see me with any ills or injuries you have. I've also delivered a fair amount of babies in my time, so if there is not a trusted midwife nearby, I wouldn't mind helping with that either."

Brian lifted his glass in cheers, "To Claire, our verra own healer."

Claire blushed deeper, now in embarrassment as everyone's voice rose collectively to cheer her, "Slainté, to Claire."

As breakfast came to an end, Jenny leaned forward to look past Ian, "Claire, before ye go back up to rest, Mam and I would like to get yer measurements for yer wedding dress."

Claire nodded with a grin, "Of course, I would love that. I'm not great with a needle, well unless it's to sew up flesh, but I can help in any way that you will allow me to."

Jenny shook her head, "Yer opinion on a few things about the wedding is all that we shall need. Mary here is a fine hand wi' a needle, so is Mam."

Mary piped up, "Aye I am, but if ye wish to help I could use help wi' wee Brian. If ye could see after him for a few hours each day while Jenny, Ellen, and I work on yer dress, I would be forever grateful to ye."

Claire nodded happily, "I would love nothing more than to spend time with my wee nephew."

Jamie nodded emphatically, "Aye, it will give us time to practice for when we have our own wee lad or lassie."

Claire turned and smiled lovingly at him and no one at the table missed the look exchanged between them. Claire and Jamie were obviously more than ready to start a family of their very own.


	15. Chapter 15

As Jamie retired with his father to Brian's study, the woman all convened in the Laird's chamber to obtain Claire's measurements and listen to her ideas on what she wanted for a wedding and a wedding dress. Once inside the Laird's chamber, Ellen directed Claire to remove all of her clothes. "I'll build up the fire so ye dinna get a chill while we take yer measurements. I ken yer from the future, so ye might not be used to our ways, but please dinna feel frightened during this process. Tis completely natural to feel a bit shy as ye stand in nothin' but yer skin, but we are all women and we are no' here to judge ye, Claire."

Claire nodded and smiled at Ellen, "Thank you for your understanding in the matter, but I learned quickly when I first arrived, that is in our past life, that nudity is not something to fear. I feel completely comfortable with all of you and my nerves are more to do with my idea of what I want for a wedding dress than standing naked before you all."

Ellen chuckled, "I ken that ye are likely used to a completely different type of wardrobe and I think perhaps we can make some accommodations to bring yer idea of a wedding dress to the 18th century. Now mind, our tenants are likely to attend and we dinna wish to scandalize any of them or to have them think ye are a trollop or a common hoor."

Claire blushed, "No, what I have in mind is nothing likely that, well at least I hope not. I'm not that great at drawing, but I will give it a try so that you can see the dress I am imagining. I just hope that Jamie will like it as well, after all, he was a bit scandalized at the dress I wore the first time we attended a party at Versailles. He does know that I am daring, but I also wish to honor him and not embarrass him with my wedding dress."

The women all hummed in agreement as they stood back and waited for Claire to disrobe. Mary took Claire's clothes and placed them neatly on the foot of the bed as Jenny guided Claire to stand on a small platform, elevated about 6 inches above the floor. "Hold yer arms out to yer sides Claire and stand with yer feet apart. That way we can get all the measurements we need to make yer dress."

Claire nodded and took Jenny's hand as she stepped up onto the platform and took the stance Jenny had requested. It was a good thing that Ellen had stoked the fire, because even though the room had begun to warm considerably from when they first entered, Claire still felt a chill that caused her entire body to tremble. She wasn't entirely sure that it was all from the temperature in the room and likely having a lot more to do with what all this preparation meant. In three weeks' time, she would become Claire Fraser, and the excitement and anticipation of getting a second chance to marry Jamie and have him know that she wanted it just as much as he did, was causing goosebumps to rise on her skin. 

Before she knew it, her measurements had been taken and Jenny was helping her back into her shift and other layers. Ellen pulled a few pieces of parchment from her bedside table, along with a piece of charcoal. She passed it to Claire, "Here, lass, have a seat at my vanity and see if ye can sketch out a rough drawing of what ye wish yer dress to look like."

Claire took a seat at the vanity which had once been hers and began to sketch out the image she had in her mind. Right after she had arrived in Paris for her training as a combat nurse, she and some other nurses had ventured into town to do some window shopping after a particularly grueling day. On their little adventure, Claire had stumbled across the most beautiful wedding gown she had ever seen, displayed in the window of a tiny shop. She had allowed herself to dream of being married in that dress one day, even though she had already been married to Frank before joining the war. But now that she was getting a second chance to wed Jamie, it seemed like the perfect time to allow that dream to come true. 

The dress she was beginning to sketch would likely be considered inappropriate in this time, but once she was finished with the drawing she would ask Ellen about a way to address that matter. . The dress was made of gauzy material, with flared sleeves that fell like a waterfall to just above her elbow. The neckline was a deep v shaped that ended below her shoulder blades in the back and plunged deeply between her breasts in the front. The neckline reminded her of the red dress that she had worn at Versailles the first time she and Jamie had attended as Louise's guests. The dress would fall over her curves all the way to the floor with a beautiful bell shaped train that would follow delicately behind her as she made her way down the aisle and into Jamie's waiting arms. The original dress she had seen in the shop window had been covered in delicate seed beads that made the whole dress shimmer, but she knew that to create such intricate detail would take up way to much time.

She finished the drawing and handed it to Ellen with a slight blush rising up her neck. Ellen studied the drawing with her brow furrowed. She nodded to herself as her eyes moved over the drawing and then finally she looked up at Claire, "This dress doesna seem to require a corset or bumroll, it will also require much less fabric than a traditional 18th century wedding dress, tis almost indecent in its design, but I imagine this is something more appropriate in the 20th century."

Claire nodded and swallowed past the lump in her throat, "Yes, I realize that women now wear many more layers, however, this was a dress I had always dreamed I could be married in. I would love for Jamie to see me in it, to see the real me in a dress of my choosing. But I know that your tenants would be scandalized to see me in such a dress, therefore I was hoping that you would be able to add an overskirt, something more in tradition with what women of this time would wear. With that said, I still want Jamie to see me in this as I walk down the aisle to him and I wanted to ask you if it would be possible to have the wedding be a family affair only and then hold a reception afterward that we invite all of the tenants to attend. Since all of the family is aware of my origins, hopefully, they would all be more understanding of my choice of wedding dress and with the added skirt for the reception and benefit of the tenants no one should be offended."

Ellen smiled thoughtfully, "Aye, I think that can be arranged and tis an excellent idea. But I dinna ken what type of fabric to create such a dress out of so that it flows in such a way over yer body. I imagine tis a bit lighter than even the fabric we make our shifts from."

Claire smiled at Ellen's understanding and willingness to help her to realize her dream wedding, "Yes, the one I saw was made of something called organza but I am sure we could use satin or silk. Is there anywhere near here where we could obtain any such fabrics?"

Ellen chuckled, "Oh, lass, I have heard of organza, it was a popular choice in place of lace sleeves while I was in Paris as a young lass. I believe we will find what we need in Inverness, tis a few days ride, but we have a bit of time. Do ye have a preference for color, I ken the dress shop in Inverness, usually has a variety to choose from, but I dinna think yer are yet up to make the trip?"

Claire furrowed her brow in thought for a moment, then shook her head, "Well, when Jamie and I wed before, I was wearing a dress obtained from a brothel, it was silver and white with silver feathers embroidered over the skirts and bodice, I don't think the color much matters, though something lighter would probably be best."

Ellen nodded, "Aye, then I will ask Murtagh to take Jenny and me to Inverness in the morning and I will choose something that will suit ye. But now that we have all that worked out, I can see that ye are still bone weary, ye should head back to yer bed a get a bit of rest while ye can."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Claire's dress  
> https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cb/9d/77/cb9d77c236a3210debbd3b48ea76bcd8.jpg


	16. Chapter 16

Ellen, Jenny, and Murtagh had left for Inverness early the next morning while Claire and Jamie were still in bed. Jamie seemed to be regaining his strength much quicker than Claire and he began helping his father and brother, Willie in the fields. But soon Claire began to feel restless when she would awaken with Jamie already gone for the day, so she went out to the garden that had once been hers and began to pull weeds and create room for herbs. She knew right where she would find the herbs she would plant, the memory of where she had found them before was clear in her mind. 

Soon Ellen, Jenny, and Murtagh returned, but Ellen was adamant that neither Jamie nor Claire were allowed to see what had been purchased when they had gone to Inverness. So the days went by, with Jamie falling into a comfortable and now familiar rhythm with his family, as Claire focused more and more on expanding Ellen's garden. She had explained to Ellen, the purpose for the expansion and Ellen had surprised her with an idea. "There is a wee cottage, no' far from the main house, it has been empty for years, but perhaps ye could use it for yer surgery."

Claire's eyes lit up and she threw herself into Ellen's arms, "Oh, Ellen, I would be grateful for such a place. When Jamie and I were here before, Jenny gave me the little storeroom off the side of the kitchen, but if we could keep my patients out of the main house and in a place just for seeing to their injuries and illnesses, it would make things so much simpler."

Ellen chuckled, "That was exactly my thinkin', but the place will need some cleanin' and tendin' to, as I have said, it has lain empty for many a year now."

Claire nodded enthusiastically, "I will see to it myself, thank you, Ellen."

Ellen shook her head as she watched Claire bound out the back door and run in the direction of the upper fields. She knew right where the lass was going, and she knew that Jamie would likely volunteer to help the lass with the repairs that the cottage would most likely require before Claire could begin accepting patients there.

* * *

After another week had passed since Jamie and Claire's arrival, the two of them had her surgery cleaned up and in ship shape. Jamie gathered Claire against him, "Ye ken that it might take a bit for the tenants to trust ye."

Claire nodded, "Yes, now that I am not the Lady Broch Tuarach and never will be, their trust is something I must earn on my own."

Jamie smiled as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "Aye, but ye ken that we dinna have to remain here at Lallybroch. Now that Willie is alive and preparin' to become Laird, we can travel anywhere ye like."

Claire rolled her eyes, "As long as we don't have to go on a long sea voyage, you mean."

Jamie chuckled, "No' unless ye wish to bury me at sea."

Claire placed a kiss to the juncture between his collar bones, "Not a chance, but we might want to consider the colonies before the rising."

Jamie furrowed his brow, "Tis almost 6 years off, perhaps we can come up wi' a better plan to stop it this time."

Claire shook her head, "No way, James Fraser. I will not risk losing you again. Least of all not for that foolish Charles Stuart and his so called holy war.  
  


Jamie smiled, "Aye, perhaps yer right. But still, I would like to go to Paris to fetch wee Fergus, I still think of him as our son, ye ken?"

Claire nodded, "As do I, but you realize that he will only be 4 years old right now, he might not be so willing to come with us."

Jamie frowned, "Perhaps I could proposition Madam Elise for his purchase. I dinna wish him to think he is a slave or commodity, but Madam Elise willna turn down money, no' when Fergus is but another mouth to feed, one that isna bringin' in any money."

Claire pulled out of his arms and began to pace across her surgery floor, "I don't like the idea of purchasing him, but I think you are right. But what would you say we wanted him for?"

Jamie rubbed his hand over his chin, the few days worth of stubble making a rasping sound as he did, "Perhaps I could tell her that my wife wants a child, but is unable to have one, and ye saw young Fergus one day while ye were in the carriage and ye tasked me wi' trackin' him down to find his parents and when I found out that he lived in the brothel, ye insisted that we adopt him."

Claire nodded, "Yes, that might just work. But how soon shall we leave for France?"

Jamie sighed, "We can leave as soon as we are wed if ye wish."

Claire nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, we only have one week left and I don't want to wait any longer to save our son. I am ready to be a family again, Jamie."

Jamie grinned as his eyes fell to her belly, "Aye, tis what I wish for as well, mo chridhe."

Jamie furrowed his brow in thought, "Claire, that reminds me, it has been a month since we started back in this year, and ye have no' had yer courses in all that time. When was the last time that ye remember havin' them before ye touched the stones?"

Claire's eyes grew wide, "I don't know, the memories of the life that we lived while we were separated for those 20 years are nearly gone and my new memories are no longer confused with the old ones. I know that I was never a nurse in a war and that Uncle Lamb had not died, that he was at the stones with me when I touched them, but before that our life was so hectic that I never thought to record when my courses happened. It also didn't matter since I was a virgin and didn't need to worry about falling pregnant."

Jamie took a tentative step closer to her, "Do ye recall if yer courses were regular when ye were such a young lass before?"

Claire shook her head, "I honestly don't know, Jamie."

Jamie nodded and took her into his arms, "I dinna wish to get my hopes up, but I pray that ye are already wi' bairn."

Claire furrowed her brow, "How long do we wait before we say anything to anyone?"

Jamie looked down at her, "Why should we need to say anything before we ken for certain?"

Claire shrugged, "I don't know, perhaps so I'm not asked to do anything that could risk the baby, you do remember what it was like with Faith, right?"

Jamie nodded, "Aye, all of my memories from our time together before are as clear as day, I remember. Perhaps we wait a week after we are wed to travel to France and if ye have no' had yer courses by the time we land in France, we will ken that ye are carryin' my bairn again."

Claire leaned against his chest, tightening her hold on his waist, "I love you, Jamie Fraser and I would like nothing more than to welcome our children into the world, safe and sound."

Jamie's grip tightened around her shoulders, "Aye, perhaps we will get another chance wi' our wee Faith."

Claire closed her eyes and smiled, "Yes, and Brianna and whoever else God sees fit to gift to us."

Claire looked up at Jamie and grinned, "You realize that you will be an 18 year old father and I a 17 year old mother, to a 4 year old little French boy?"

Jamie chuckled, "Aye, are ye frightened of becomin' a mother again?"

Claire rolled her eyes and shook her head, "No, I am not. I remember being a single mother to Brianna for all those years, I am sure that I can handle a 4 year old Fergus. Besides, he will give me some great practice if I am already pregnant."

Jamie smiled softly, "Aye and perhaps we can get to him before he starts his career as a pickpocket."

* * *

The next week went by with Jamie being extra attentive to Claire, not leaving her side for very long at all. Everyone else in the house attributed it to their impending nuptials and made no move to dissuade the couple from remaining in one another's company for the majority of each day. 

On the day before the wedding was set to take place, Ellen took hold of Claire's elbow, "Come wi' me, lass, I have somethin' to show to ye."

Jamie furrowed his brow, "Where are ye takin' my wife?"

Ellen waved him off, "Och, dinna fash yer self, we just need to do a final fitting and I will have her back in yer arms before ye ken it."

Jamie huffed in frustration and threw himself down on the settee in front of the hearth in the parlor, "Dinna take to long, I wish to take her for a wee walk to the mill."

Ellen rolled her eyes and pushed Claire up the stairs, "Men have no patience. He doesna ken it, but the look on his face when ye walk down the aisle to him will be well worth the separation."

Claire turned and smiled lovingly at her mother in law, "I have become more and more nervous with each day that has passed since I sketched out my dream dress for you."

Ellen placed a hand on her shoulder as she turned Claire toward the Laird's room door. "Go on in, lass, Mary, and Jenny are waitin' to help ye into yer dress." 


	17. Chapter 17

Claire walked into the Laird's room, hesitant to remove her clothing in front of all of the other women. She slowly untied her overskirt, allowing it to float to the floor, followed by her bodice, bum roll, and corset. She stood in just her shift and waited for instructions. Ellen looked at her as Jenny picked up her clothes to lay them neatly on the bed. "Claire, the dress I have designed for ye, doesna require a shift, ye must remove it before we can dress ye."

Claire took a deep breath and nodded in understanding. She untied the laces of her shift and pushed it off her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor and pool around her ankles. She immediately moved her hands up to cover her breasts as a shiver ran up her spine. Jenny picked up her shift as Claire stepped out of it and Ellen took Claire's arm to help her up onto the little pedestal. Mary brought the dress over and Ellen took one side so they could lower it down over her head. Claire was too nervous about the woman guessing her secret to even take notice of the colors Ellen had chosen for her dress. 

She stood frozen in place like a marionette doll as the women dressed her and adjusted the dress over her body. When they were finished they all three stepped back and made sounds of amazement as they took her in and began circling her as they checked out how the dress looked on her from every angle. Claire hadn't said anything or even looked at any of them when Ellen cleared her throat to get Claire's attention. "Claire, I asked if ye wanted to take a look in the mirror?"

Claire's eyes went wide, "Oh, I am so sorry, my mind must have been somewhere else. I didn't even realize that you were all finished dressing me."

Ellen waved her concerns away, "No need to fret my dear, come and see for yourself how beautiful ye are."

Claire accepted Ellen's extended hand as she gingerly stepped down from the pedestal, taking special care not to trip over the hem of the dress and accidentally fall. She just as slowly walked over to stand in front of the full length mirror and her hands flew to her mouth as she took in her own reflection. "Oh, Ellen, this is so lovely. Mary, you did an exquisite job of bringing my vision to life, this is more than I could have hoped for."

Mary blushed and Ellen smiled proudly, "So ye approve of the colors then?"

Claire nodded emphatically, "Yes, I never thought I would look good in pink, but combined with the white lace overlaying the entire dress, it is perfect. It's so soft and elegant and so modern."

Ellen beamed with pride, "Good, I am glad ye like it, now if ye are ready we can add the overskirts which ye will be able to wear amongst the tenants. Jenny has also stitched a light shawl from a bit of the lace, which ye can wear over the bodice, to hide a bit of the low cut neckline."

Claire nodded and turned away from the mirror to walk back over to the pedestal. She pulled up the hem of the dress then looked around for a hand to help her up. Jenny offered her the hand and all of the women looked at her inquisitively, causing a blush to rise on Claire's face. Ellen patted her hand, "Dinna fash mo nighean, we all ken that ye and Jamie have enjoyed the marriage bed since yer handfasting and we dinna hold it against ye. No one will ken that ye are wi' bairn already, it will remain a secret amongst the four of us."

Jenny's eyes went round, "Does Jamie ken?"

Claire looked down at her still flat stomach and nodded minutely, "Yes, actually he is the one that figured it out before me, I still wasn't sure, not yet anyway. I was going to wait another week to be certain, but I guess it is more obvious than I realized."

Ellen smiled softly, "Tis no obvious to everyone, but ye have filled out a bit since ye came to Lallybroch and yer nipples have already darkened since we took yer measurements as well. I doubt that anyone outside this room, besides Jamie kens. Ye can keep it to yer selves for a bit if ye wish, tis no' my news to share."

Claire sighed in relief, "Thank you, Ellen, we just want to be certain. Last time when I was pregnant with Faith, we were both so excited, and then I lost her when she was born too soon."

Ellen patted Claire's hand as Mary brought the overskirt from the bed to tie around her waist, "This time ye ken what to expect and ye will take it easy and make sure that this bairn comes into the world, strong and healthy."

Claire nodded emphatically, "I will do whatever it takes to make sure that Jamie and I don't lose any more children. But that also reminds me that we need to speak with all of you about our plans for after the wedding. But I want to wait for everyone to be together before we get into all of that."

Ellen nodded in understanding, "We can discuss it this evening after dinner if ye wish."

Ellen offered her a hand again and Claire gratefully accepted the help as she was led over to the mirror once more. She looked at her reflection and gasped, "Oh, Ellen, it looks like a completely different dress but just as stunning as the original. Do you think the tenants will think it is too scandalous?"

Ellen chuckled, "Lass, the other women might be jealous of yer beauty, but I dinna think anyone will have any ill thoughts about yer dress. But as I said, Jenny has stitched a shawl for ye if ye feel uncomfortable in the dress alone."

Claire smiled in thanks and accepted the lightweight white lace shawl that Jenny wrapped around her shoulders. She turned this way and that, taking in her reflection from all angles, the smile never leaving her face. Then she turned back to look at herself from the front and a frown spread across her face as her hand came up to her neck, as if searching for a necklace that wasn't there. Ellen noticed and nodded to herself as she walked over to her vanity and opened her jewelry box. She pulled out a black velvet pouch and turned back to Claire as she poured the pearls into her hand, "I remember ye tellin' us how Jamie had gifted these to ye. I am willin' to let ye borrow them for yer weddin' day, but until the day comes that I pass and Jamie can give them to ye himself, they will remain as mine."

Claire's eyes lit up as she looked lovingly at the pearls, tears rolling down her face as she whispered her reply, "Thank you, Ellen, that means the world to me that you would let me borrow them."

Ellen smiled and walked around behind Claire to clasp the pearls around her neck. She placed her hands on Claire's shoulders when she was finished and looked past her into the mirror, "Jamie just might swoon when he sees ye walkin' down the aisle to him."

Claire's mouth curved up into a small smile, "I hope he likes it, I don't want to be an embarrassment to him."

Ellen chuckled, "I have seen the way my son looks upon ye, and he could never be embarrassed by ye. Though he might get his dander up if any other man dares to look too long at ye."

Claire rolled her eyes and all the women giggled in merriment.

* * *

After dinner, Jamie and Claire sat down in the parlor with the rest of the family. Jamie tapped his whisky glass after everyone took a seat, "I would like to thank everyone for welcomin' Claire into our home and family so easily. I ken it was a hard tale to swallow, everythin' that we have been through in another life, but ye trusted us and welcomed her wi' open arms. Now then, we have a bit of news to share wi' the family as well as our plans for after the wedding."

Ellen looked between Claire and Jamie, knowing at least about the news her son was about to share. Brian squeezed her hand, also having an idea from how delicately his son had treated Claire of late, but he eagerly awaited the news with everyone else in the room. When Jamie looked around to see that he had everyone's attention, he extended a hand to Claire, pulling her to her feet to stand next to him. He wrapped an arm protectively around her shoulders, pressed a kiss to her temple then turned to face his family, "Claire and I are expectin' a bairn, and by my calculations, the bairn should arrive in late January."

Whoops and congratulations filled the room as everyone stood and walked over to hug both Claire and Jamie. Patting Jamie on the back and kissing Claire on the cheek, each member of the family smiled with joy. Jenny pulled Claire close, "I'm so excited for a new niece or nephew, but I must admit, I didna expect Jamie to have a bairn before me."

Claire giggled and whispered back to her, "Well, if you wish to have a baby soon, you should convince Ian to marry you."

Jenny blushed, "Aye, I suppose I should, but he only talks of goin' to France and becomin' a mercenary."

Claire's eyes went round with worry and before she could stop herself, she was shouting, "NO!."

Everyone went immediately silent and stared at Claire with worry. Brian took a step closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder, "Are ye alright lass?"

Claire blushed in embarrassment, "I am so sorry, I didn't mean to shout at you Jenny, but you can't allow him to go."

Jenny furrowed her brow, "I dinna wish him to go, but why do ye say that?"

Claire took a deep breath, "In our other life, Ian went to France to fight as a mercenary and lost his leg from an infection after being shot. Jamie knew him before he lost his leg and he was just like your Ian is now, but losing his leg took quite a toll on him. He became subdued and it was harder for him to find joy in his life. Please, do not let him go to France."

Brian nodded, "Aye, I will speak wi' his father, we will come up wi' somethin' that will keep him here. Thank ye, lass, we appreciate the warnin' and no need to fret over shoutin', yer emotions are understandably heightened. But Jamie said ye wished to share yer plans for after the wedding, are ye prepared to do that now?"

Claire looked to Jamie and he nodded, "Aye, Da, please take a seat." Brian obliged as Jamie waited, then when he had everyone's attention again, he took a deep breath and laid out their plan. "We plan to sail to France a week after we wed, in our other life, we adopted a small French boy who was orphaned. We wish to go to France and find him again. We want to make him our son and bring him home wi' us."

Brian smiled, his eyes full of pride for his son, "Of course, that sounds like a grand idea and I am sure that Jared would be happy to have ye for a visit."

Jamie took a sip of his whisky, "Aye, we might remain in France for a while and I have no' spoken to Claire about this yet, but I was hopin' to take Jenny wi' us. I ken that once she becomes married, she will likely no' have a chance to visit other parts of the world and every lady deserves a chance to visit Versailles, at least once."

Jenny's grin could light up the room as she looked at her mother and father expectantly. Ellen looked over at her daughter, "Well, I dinna see what it could hurt and it will ease my mind to have someone there for Claire in her condition. But ye will try to return to us before the bairn is born?"

Jamie looked at Claire and placed another kiss on her temple, "Aye, that is our plan, we wish for our child to be born here, in Scotland."

Jenny squealed as she jumped up and ran over, embracing both Claire and Jamie, "Thank ye brother, ye are makin' a dream come true. I was always envious of ye when ye got to go off to Paris to University and now I get to see the city for myself."

Claire chuckled, "It can be quite overwhelming but it's definitely something that you should experience at least once."

Jenny bounced on her heels as she kissed Claire on the cheek, "Thank ye Claire, ye are a true sister."

Jamie rolled his eyes and squeezed Claire's shoulder, "As much as we would like to continue to sit and sip whisky, Claire and I must get to bed, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow and the bairn has begun to sap her energy."

Claire smiled at everyone, "Goodnight."

Jamie said goodnight to everyone as well and placed a hand at the small of her back, leading her upstairs to their room as the excited chatter of their family faded below them.


	18. Chapter 18

Jamie awoke to the sound of retching coming from the corner of the bedroom. He immediately leapt out of bed and scanned the still dark room, "Claire, are ye alright lass?"

Claire wiped her mouth and looked in the direction of the bed, "I will be in a moment, it's just morning sickness, more proof that I am indeed pregnant."

Jamie swung his legs over the side of the bed and made his way over to the corner, his way lit by the glowing embers of what remained of their fire. When he reached her side at the chamber pot, he pulled her hair back away from her face and pressed a kiss to her temple, "I ken that when we were in France that ye would brew ginger tea to calm yer wame, would ye like me to go down to the kitchen and make some for ye?"

Claire sat back on her haunches and leaned against Jamie's shoulder as she nodded, "That would be wonderful, but first could you help me back to bed, I can't quite see as well as you can and I already stubbed my toe trying to find the chamber pot in the dark."

Jamie chuckled and rose to his feet, pulling Claire up with him. He bent at the knees and easily scooped her up into his arms, "It might be easier if I carried ye, that way ye willna harm yer wee toes anymore."

Jamie carefully laid her down and adjusted her pillows so that she was sitting more upright, then he went to the hearth and added a new log to the fire. He stirred the embers around, then leaned close and blew on them to entice them to burn hot enough to light the fresh log aflame. Once the log caught fire, he rose to his feet and returned to his side of the bed, picking up his shirt from the floor and pulling it over his head. "I'll no' be long mo nighean donn."

Claire smiled lovingly up at him, "Could you perhaps see if there are any bannocks in the kitchen as well, I think a bit of bread might help to calm my stomach as well."

Jamie grinned "Aye, anythin' the lady wants, the lady will get."

Claire rolled her eyes, "Hurry back, Soldier."

As Jamie had promised, he was only gone for a short while, and when he returned he had a whole tray of food as well as two mugs of ginger tea. Claire sat up a bit higher in the bed, her back to the headboard, and accepted one of the mugs from Jamie. She closed her eyes and sipped the aromatic tea, relishing the calming effects it was already having on her. After a moment she opened her eyes and looked over at Jamie, who had sat down on the bed next to her, the tray of food carefully laid between their thighs. "Thank you, my love. I know you didn't wish to start our wedding day this way, but at least it's a bit of confirmation that I carry your child beneath my heart."

Jamie smirked, "Dinna fash, tis no' even midnight yet, we still have plenty of time to start our day off right, but first ye need to get a bit of food in yer belly. It pains me to see ye sufferin' so, ye ken that I would gladly take it all and bear it myself if I could."

Claire smiled gratefully, "I know, my love. While I can't pretend not to hate morning sickness, it reassures me that everything is as it should be with our baby."

Jamie's expression morphed into an affectionate smile, "I canna tell ye how relieved I am to hear that, Sassenach. I also canna express how grateful I am to get a second chance at raisin' our bairns wi' ye."

Claire sighed in contentment as she leaned her head back against the headboard, accepting a bannock from Jamie and nibbling slowly on it. "Soon, my love, we will be wed again tomorrow, then next week we will find ourselves on a ship to France. Then hopefully soon after that, we will have our son and the start of our family."

Jamie sighed, "Aye, it all seems as if I have been waitin' my whole life for this, but at the same time it feels as if it is going by to fast and I wanna reach out and grab a hold of each moment, savoring them in case it all slips through my fingers again."

Claire looked over at him through tears, "Oh, Jamie, we won't let that happen. We will do what we must, to save as many people as we can and to stay together, no matter what. I won't let you send me back through those stones again. A life without you is no life that I want to live, not again. There is a reason that the stones have given us another chance, even your mother believes that the stones have set us on a path to our true destiny and I will not waste this chance to be with you, to build a family with you, to grow old with you and to one day, when we are old and grey to die with you."

Jamie sighed as he wiped the tears that had spilled down her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs, "That is what I want too, but what of Charles Stuart and his doomed rebellion, we have already tried to stop it and we both now ken that it was much too big for just the two of us to stop. However, it will come and the Jacobites will fail, Scotland and her people will suffer and there's naught we can do to stop it."

Claire sighed, "Perhaps not, but we do still have options to save those that we love. I don't even want to think about leaving Scotland, but it might be the only choice we have to keep our family whole, to retain our freedoms, and to live the long and happy life that we dream about."

Jamie nodded, "Aye, perhaps yer right and it begins far sooner than the rising. Accordin' to my journal, Randall didna come to Lallybroch and change our lives forever until 1741. That's two years from now, but we ken what is to come."

Claire furrowed her brow, "Do you think that Randall would have behaved the same way if it had been your father and mother that he encountered?"

Jamie shrugged, "I dinna ken, but I wouldna think so. Father would have met him in the dooryard and Randall wouldna have had cause to enter the house and find Jenny."

Claire sighed, "I know that your mother wishes us to return for the baby to be born, but I think that perhaps afterward we could go back to France, at least long enough so that you and Jenny don't encounter Randall."

Jamie rubbed the bit of stubble that had begun to grow on his chin as he thought her proposition over, "Aye, that moment in time caused a ripple that affected the rest of my life. If I hadna encountered Randall, I wouldna have ever had a price on my head and had to flee to Paris. He wouldna have ever known of me, I wouldna have to hide under an assumed name. The watch and Horrocks would have no reason to blackmail me, I wouldna have been taken to Wentworth where one of the worst experiences of my life changed me."

Claire scooted closer to him, "So if we can keep that first encounter from happening, perhaps you will be able to lead a very different life."

Jamie nodded, "Aye, I will talk wi' Mam and Da about it in a few days and perhaps we should take Ian wi' us to France. We already ken that he and Jenny are destined to be wed, so perhaps if they had a chance to court properly, in a place where they dinna have to fash about Redcoats, Ian will see what is most important."

Claire nodded, "Yes, perhaps he won't feel a need to prove himself by becoming a mercenary, and instead he can focus on wooing your sister."

Jamie chuckled, "Aye, I think it would be good for both of them. I will suggest the idea to Da and see what he thinks about it." 

Claire hummed in agreement and Jamie looked over at her, noticing that she was beginning to look sleepy. He shook his head and grinned at her, "Sassenach, I think perhaps ye should lay yer head down and get a bit of rest. After all, we have a busy day ahead of us in the mornin'."

Claire nodded her head and slid down so that her head rested on the pillow. Jamie pulled the blanket up around her, shed his shirt, and tossed it on the floor. Then scooted down and wrapped his body around hers, his large hand coming to rest on her abdomen, over the area where their child grew, protected within Claire's body. 


	19. Chapter 19

Thankfully the remainder of the night was uneventful, the bannocks being exactly what Claire's stomach needed to remain calm and allow her to get a full night's rest. Jamie woke with the larks, the sun still below the horizon as his eyes opened and adjusted to the darkness of the early morning. He moved his arm from where it rested under Claire's head, leaned on his elbow, and placed his chin in his hand as he looked down at her peaceful face. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, even more, beautiful than his memories of her in their previous life. She was so much younger and more carefree than she had been the first time she had fallen through the stones. He could now see the differences in her, how her world war had hardened her and made her into a more skeptical person, a person who was no longer able to trust her instincts or heart.

He sighed and thanked the Lord for the chance to get to know this other side of Claire, a side which allowed her to wear her heart on her sleeve and trust in the love they shared. He leaned over, brushed a curl away from her face, and tucked it behind her ear, then leaned down and pressed a tender kiss to her temple. A beautiful smile graced her face as he pulled away. 

He turned and rolled to his other side, carefully making his way out of bed, so as not to disturb her slumber. He pulled on his shirt and breeks, tiptoed over to the hearth, placed a fresh log on the fire, then turned and took one last look at Claire before silently slipping out of the room. As he was making his way down the hall toward Rabbie's room, he nearly smacked right into his father, "Da, what are ye doin' up so early?"

Brian placed both of his hands on Jamie's shoulders, "Have ye forgotten that we have a farm, son. I ken that ye and Claire have been sleepin' a bit later in the mornin' to replenish yer energy from passin' through the stones, but for the rest of us, this is how life has been for as long as we can remember."

Jamie nodded in understanding, "Aye, I remember Da, and I am verra sorry that I have no' been of more help since our return."

Brian chuckled, "I wasna complainin' mo mac, I ken that ye both have been through quite an ordeal. I also ken that in time, it will be as if this has always been yer life, but for now, would ye mind helpin' me in the stables? I need to feed the animals before yer mam and sister rope me into helpin' wi' the weddin' preparations."

Jamie sighed in relief, "Thank ye, Da, I was hopin' to spend a bit of time in the stables this mornin', bein' around the horses always helps to calm my nerves."

Brian furrowed his brow as both men began to make their way down the steps, "What have ye got to be nervous about?"

Jamie shrugged as if his shirt didn't fit quite right, "I worry that I'm no' enough, that I willna be enough."

Brian stopped halfway down the steps and turned to look at his son, "Were ye no' enough the last time?"

Jamie rolled his eyes as he took another step down, "Aye, I suppose I was, at least until I was forced to send her back."

Brian wrapped an arm around his son's shoulder and continued to guide him down the stairs, "It seems havin' lived through it all before has given ye a bit of an advantage. Ye are more prepared this time than ye were last time. Ye ken exactly what is to come and how to avoid the downfalls. As yer mother has said, ye have been given a second chance to make different choices. It seems to me that ye need to trust in yer love and devotion for one another, and make conscious decisions to avoid the mistakes of the past."

Jamie relaxed, the tension melting from his body as his father led him toward the back door, out into the yard, and across to the stables. He wasn't much help as his father tossed hay to each of the horses, but his mind and body were able to find peace as he brushed down Donas. After about an hour, Brian came to lean on the railing to Donas's stall, "The sun will be up soon, lad, tis time to go back into the house and prepare for yer weddin'."

Jamie looked up at his father, "Aye, yer right."

Jamie dropped the handful of straw onto the floor at Donas's feet, and climbed over the railing, hopping down next to his father. Together the two of them made their way back inside the house and were welcomed by the scent of fresh baked bannocks and eggs. Brian patted Jamie's shoulder and pointed toward the parlor, "Go on up and get yer self cleaned up, ye can bathe in the Laird's room. I'll have yer brother Rabbie bring yer things from his room so that ye can dress in the Laird's room as well. Yer mother and Jenny will likely be up in yer room wi' Claire, helpin' her to prepare for yer nuptials now."

Jamie nodded and followed his father's instructions, meeting his mother in the hall outside his room, "Mam, has Claire woken up yet?"

His mother nodded and smiled knowingly, "Aye, Jenny woke her a wee bit ago. She is bathin' in yer room now. Go on into the Laird's room and use my bath to wash yerself up, ye smell like the horses."

Jamie chuckled and kissed his mother on the cheek, "Thank ye, Mam."

Ellen rolled her eyes and waved him away, "If ye keep that up, yer liable to make yer old mother cry, now go on and get yerself ready to meet yer bride."

Jamie bowed gallantly and watched as his mother disappeared into his room and quickly closed the door behind her before he could take a peek inside. He took a deep breath, stared at his bedroom door for another moment, then turned on his heel, and headed for the Laird's room. As he entered he was hit with memories of when he and Claire had returned to Lallybroch for the first time in their previous life, when the Laird's room had been their room. Every corner of the room was filled with the memories they had made there together. He looked over at the window where he had confessed his love to Claire and where she had, in turn, admitted that she loved him as well. He smiled at the fond memory but was thankful that they had been given a second chance, a chance to be honest with one another from the start and to put their relationship first and make new memories. 

As he walked further into the room, his attention was drawn to the hearth, where he had told Claire about what Randall had truly wanted from him, where she had wrapped her arms around him and comforted him. Where he had held her against his chest and hoped for a better future than he had imagined for himself after enduring the pain of his past. He smiled again at the thought that they had been given another chance to mold their future into something entirely different than the hand they had been dealt before. Not only would they be able to avoid the pitfalls of their previous life, but they could help Jenny and Ian to avoid the pain that had befallen them as well. 

He shook his head and focused on the hip bath full of steaming water in front of the hearth. He slowly removed his breaks and shirt, then lowered himself into the soothing water. He chuckled as he realized that this was already a different beginning to his wedding day than he had experienced in his previous life. On his first wedding day to Claire, he had taken a quick swim in a nearby loch to rid himself of some of the road dust that had accumulated on his skin during the rent collection trip. But this time, his mother had provided him with a sweet smelling soap, as well as a comb and a razor to prepare himself with. 

He knew from Claire's recounting of the morning of their wedding, that she hadn't bathed either and he wondered if she was finding this wedding day to be a vast improvement from their impromptu wedding at the behest of Dougal MacKenzie. He took his time and scrubbed every inch of his skin, removing the smell of horses and dirt then scrubbed his hair until his scalp tingled. When he was happy that every spec of dirt had finally been scrubbed from his body, he lifted himself from the bath, grabbed a clean towel that his mother had left on a chair next to the bath, and dried his body. 

When he was completely dry, he wrapped the towel around his waist like a makeshift kilt, sat himself down at his mother's vanity, and went about shaving every bit of stubble from his face. When he was finished, he chuckled to himself, realizing that he had seen his face so clean since he and Claire had resided in Paris. He hoped Claire would appreciate the effort he was taking for their second chance wedding. He quickly finished grooming himself, just in time to hear a knock at the door. He stood from the vanity fisted the towel to keep it tightly around his waist then walked over and opened the door just a crack. But when he saw who stood on the other side, he pulled the door open fully and stepped out of the way, "Rabbie, I see that ye have brought my clothes, come in."

Rabbie stepped into the room, his arms loaded down with Jamie's wedding finery and a nervous smile on his face, "Mam said that I should bring these to ye, she said ye will be dressin' in here."

Jamie nodded and gestured for Rabbie to set the clothes on the bed, "Aye, Claire is in my room wi' Mam and Jenny. Mam said I could use the Laird's room to ready myself."

Rabbie nodded as he set the clothes down then turned to look at his big brother, "Do ye need me to fetch ye anythin'?"

Jamie furrowed his brow, "I'm no' hungry, but I ken that Claire would say I need to eat somethin', could ye bring me up some breakfast and perhaps take somethin' for Claire to eat as well. She and the bairn both need to keep their energy up."

Rabbie nodded, "Aye, I'll see to it, Jamie."

Jamie closed the door behind his brother, then turned and tossed the towel on the floor to begin dressing. His own wedding finery was much more elegant than even the clothes he had been loaned for his first wedding and Jamie blushed at the thought of what Claire would think of him, looking even more like a dandy in his own clothes. By the time he was completely dressed and was buckling his boots, there was another knock on the door. Jamie took one last look in the mirror at his mother's vanity, straightened the ruby pin in his lace jabot, then turned and walked over to answer the door. Rabbie stood on the other side, carrying a tray of food. Jamie stepped out of the way and pointed to the vanity, "Set it over there."

Rabbie did as Jamie asked, then turned to look at his brother, "I took Claire a bit of food first, she wasna hungry either, but promised that she would eat somethin', she said it would make ye happy if she fed the bairn."

Jamie grinned, "Aye, good."

Rabbie shifted back and forth from one foot to the other, and Jamie quirked his brow, "What is it, lad, is there somethin' on yer mind?"

Rabbie blushed and nodded, "Tis just that I hope I'm as lucky as ye are one day."

Jamie grabbed a bannock from the tray, then walked over and sat on the foot of the bed, patting the place next to him so that Rabbie would take a seat, "I ken ye will be lad, there is the perfect woman out there for ye, just like Claire was out there for me."

Rabbie nodded, "Aye, but ye were blessed wi' a rare, beautiful woman, she looks like an angel today, Jamie."

Jamie quirked his brow, "Aye?"

Rabbie nodded then sat up taller, "Aye, she does, but mam, said that I canna tell ye what she's wearin', she said it would ruin the surprise."

Jamie rolled his eyes, "Aye, I ken it would, but I can barely wait for another second to make her my wife. Can ye no' just give me a hint of how she looks?"

Rabbie shook his head vehemently, "No, but she is the most lovely woman I have ever seen, ye are lucky, Jamie, I'll tell ye that. Ye'll just have to wait and see for yerself."

Jamie furrowed his brow, remembering how lovely Claire had been on their first wedding day as he tried to imagine how she would look when he laid eyes on her in less than an hour. He became lost in his own thoughts, so Rabbie silently snuck out of the room, leaving Jamie sitting on the foot of their parent's bed, daydreaming of the moment he would set eyes on Claire again. Fortunately, it wasn't much longer after that, when his father walked into the room and placed a gentle hand on his son's shoulder, "Tis time for us to go to the kirk, mo mac. Yer bride is ready, but she canna leave until after ye have made yer way to the chapel."

Jamie looked up at his father, suddenly startled from his reverie, and nodded, "Aye, I have waited long enough to make Claire my wife again, let's go."


End file.
